Eureka for super educational programs: Better learning through better teaching

India produces 3.7 million graduates annually. However, the country has yet to leverage the amazing possibilities of its intellectual treasure trove. One of the reasons stems from the fact that, although India’s economy is growing, its infrastructure still faces big challenges, particularly in education, thus creating an ever-widening gap between urban and rural areas, depriving poorer children of opportunities to learn and climb the social ladder.

But apprenticeship is no easy matter to solve. Thankfully, the NGO Association for India’s Development (AID), founded by Dr. Balaji Sampath, came up with a great idea. The NGO, in partnership with Eureka Child Foundation, established a fully scalable program called Eureka SuperKidz based on three core concepts: 1) Acting directly with children; 2) Active partnering with schools, institutions and civil society stakeholders; 3) Large-scale advocacy with communities, NGOs and Governments.

In Tamil Nadu, the NGO has had the opportunity to implement its program in over 1028 villages, reaching out to 10 additional villages, among which is Thervoy, in Thiruvallur District, with help from Michelin India. Through a very segmented set of lessons with clearly defined goals and methods, the program reached its 100% skills achievement goal for the enrolled children, ensuring that they had learnt and mastered essential core skills (reading, writing and arithmetic), which are essential to the pursuit of their studies. Thanks to AID and the Eureka Superkidz program, a whole new world of opportunities is now opening up to the children of Tamil Nadu.