Changemakers of India: Divanshu Kumar

Hello everyone,

In continuation with the series on Changemakers of India, we bring our very first interaction with the young social entrepreneur, Divanshu Kumar. He is the founder of the non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation.

Let's hear from Divanshu how education can be an instrument of social change and applaud this young social entrepreneur.

Please tell us something about yourself and your entrepreneurial journey.

I am Divanshu Kumar, a 2019 graduate from the department of Mechanical Engineering student at IIT-Madras. I come from Gaya, Bihar where I did most of my schooling. I run a non-profit ed-tech startup Involve Learning Solutions Foundation where we are preparing students for the needs of tomorrow. 

Honestly, I consider myself as an accidental entrepreneur, because my inclination wasn't really on starting my company, but towards solving complex social problems which affected human potential. And while I was playing with the Idea of Involve, I didn't even know that we could start a company for the same. 

However, after a couple of pilots that we did, it formed our way to create an organization that challenges conventional learning methods and trusts students to make decisions for themselves and makes them an integral part of the system. 

I also am working on to create automatic solutions for septic tanks to eliminate manual scavenging. 

Why did you choose education as an area of interest?

I think the wish to work in the sector was there for a long time though I didn't have a good solution to work on. I knew there is an ever-increasing dependency of school students on teachers without the students having any motivation or ownership towards their learning.

Education in India is very much focused on academics rather than learning and skills that students actually need to succeed in life. The need for education has actually evolved over the years. Earlier young adults had to do repeatable tasks at the workplace. This is no longer the case. We have technology and automation to take care of such tasks. The workplaces of today demand innovation and problem-solving. We need to enable our students to make their decisions by trusting them and enabling them. 

However, while I was working with Avanti fellows in my sophomore year, I came across the learning models and one of them was Peer Teaching which attracted me immediately and I thought it's a solution worth implementing!

Would you like to tell us briefly about Involve?

Involve's vision is to develop informed and empowered students who can take decisions for themselves. We do that through our Peer Teaching program which creates a system fr students to learn from each other. We train senior students from Grade 7 upwards to teach youngsters between Grade 3-8.

The program ensures that younger students get the individual attention they need to excel. We approach schools to get buy-in from the management. This initiative takes place in the last two periods or after regular school sessions. We provide orientation to senior students – we call them senior leaders – to equip them to teach, as well as provide curriculum support. This also helps them develop their leadership skills.

Additionally, we provide 4+ hours of intervention per week to help them teach effectively and engage better with young students to improve their academic outcomes.

How has the COVID pandemic affected your organization, if at all?

The majority of our was used to happen on the ground, in classrooms, however because of Covid it has affected the entire thing. We have been quick enough to love our things online, though still access to a good internet connection  & smartphone is a challenge for students from low-income communities. Since the schools will be closed for quite some time, we also have to see how we can initiate student-led learning systems in local communities. 

What is your advice for young entrepreneurs?

- A lot of us pursue entrepreneurship today because it's the new buzz word, however, it is important to understand if you really are up for the grind. It takes a lot of effort and sacrifices to build a startup. Don't do it just because your friend or senior is doing it. 

Do it for your own happiness and passion, not the heroism/popularity that comes with it.

Because that is temporary If that is the only reason, your motivation will fade in three months or so. You will give up at the first signs of struggle. But if you are here for the right reasons, the process will become a lot more sustainable and

enriching.