Introducing myself: Jitendra, Wipro Fellow at Eklavya

It is going to be a little longish intro..but it will help you understand me and my journey...

I come from a joint family living in a picturesque Himalayan village in north India. I grew up and had my education in the small town of Mussoorie where my father was posted in a government department. I am the first one in my family to have progressed beyond primary schooling.

After the undergraduate studies, I started thinking seriously about my life. One thing, I was very clear about was that I wanted a meaningful and enjoyable vocation. I had also realised that I would need English competency for better prospects for finding any job. So, I switched over from Science to Arts and studied English for my Masters degree. After that, I opted for jobs that looked interesting and challenging. I worked as a research assistant for a year and then got into Hindi language teaching to foreigners (at Landour Language School, Mussoorie). The enjoyment I derived from teaching meant that half of my search was over. My part time translation job in which I worked on development articles got me interested into development field(SIDH, the NGO I worked for over 12 years had its office close to my house so they had offered me some translation work while I was doing language teaching to foreigners).It didn’t take me long to decide that I wanted to work in education but for those who lack opportunities and access to good quality education. In 1996, I moved from Language School to SIDH (www.sidhsri.com).

My major learning over the years is a growing belief in the human potential. This is what education is all about - knowing what a human being is capable of understanding and executing. Realizing human potential is what we call empowerment. For me, empowerment and education are the same. One of my key interests is to understand the process of empowerment. What role do I play in the empowerment of the other; similarly how does a group function in such a way that every individual progresses towards greater empowerment. I don't see education as teacher centered or learner centered, I see it empowerment centered.

I draw strength from everyone, specially little children who I was supposed to teach. I had started teaching adults and then spent 5-6 years in running residential programs for youth. Then, I was teaching teenagers and finally I got the opportunity to teach KG students. That was the time when I started understanding the role of an individual in the lives of others.

Having worked at SIDH for over 12 years, I moved to Eklavya under Wipro Fellowship. Some ideological issues made me leave SIDH and I had to replan my life. Having worked at the village level,I wanted urban exposure. Again, having had classroom experience, I wanted macro level exposure so chose Eklavya where they were conceptualizing a program for networking and resource support amoung educational NGOs and teachers in Bhopal.

Long term plan is to work for the community I belong to. Some of the ex-SIDH friends have already set up a Learning Resource Centre (LRC) as a part of our commitment towards our own village community. Presently, we run an After School Support Programme for children, literacy classes for women and a computer training course. Engaging youth in a dialogue has also just begun as one of the group member has earned a fellowship to start a youth drop in centre there. Health is also on our agenda as another friend is interested in that and there is a need in the community. Collective leadership is what we want to try out there. Let's see..

I will be writing more in detail about my work soon...

Jitendra
December 15, 2009