Geetha Patil
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Ekal USA’s Ekal New England chapter hosted a fund-raising event , Ekal Vidyalaya’s Power of Education Forum, with an engaging session and panel discussion at Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, on March 2 with hundreds of participants not only actively participating in the event but also coming forward to support Ekal’s good cause.
Subra Dravida welcomed the special guests, the panel members, and all the participants to the exciting program. Ranjani Saigal, the Executive Director of Ekal USA presented the keynote address and the introduction of Ekal’s mission and projects to the participants through an informative video show.
Tarun Khanna, the Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at the Harvard Business School and the first Director of the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute of Harvard, presented his analogy of Ekal’s one teacher school program with other well-known programs such as Venezuela’s El Sistema music program that aims at to lift young people from poverty and place them into orchestras, and the Missouri-based Edward Jones financial services firm’s model of staffing one advisor per branch office.
Vivek Sharma, who generously sponsors a tailoring and bag making project for women’s empowerment and supports an integrated center that focuses on the all-round development of 30 villages in India’s Mathura area, said that by involving with Ekal’s projects “we not only give but we also get from Ekal”.
Deepika and Dr. Amarpreet Sawhney, who support Ekal Vidyalaya, also shared their experiences and encouraged others to support such educational efforts.
Puran Dang and Niraj Chandra also spoke about their experiences with Ekal and highlighted its objectives to the participants and encouraged everyone to come forward to support its cause. Nandini Sitaram, a student from William’s College, shared her interesting experiences with the beneficiaries of Ekal’s tailoring and health projects from several Ekal centers in Jharkhand area through her video presentation.
Subra Dravida provided his explanations for supporting Ekal projects. He said that the Ekal Vidyalaya incorporates simplicity, sustainability and scalability in achieving its objectives. In the panel discussion, Mike Teodorescu, Assistant Professor in the Information Systems Department of Boston College, spoke on the possibility of using of tele-medicine by Ekal after collecting information about ailments and creating an electronic health record for rural India.
Dr Bhavana Lall, an internist affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, stated that mental health problems and behavioral disorders are growing in India. So, along with education “we need to focus on the increasing need for integrated health care facilities in rural India”.
Jaleesa, a graduate student in the life-long kindergarten research group at MIT Media Lab, said that creative learning helps children to learn faster. Dr Meena Subramanyam moderated the panel discussion, that was followed by a question-and-answer session and summed up the discussions.
Shri Ramji honored all the participants of the panel discussion with beautiful paintings made by the volunteers of the New England chapter. Vandana Sharma shared her teaching and learning experiences at Ekal Vidyalayas in Mathura.
Dr. Dravida thanked all the speakers, special guests, and participants. He also thanked all the volunteers who worked hard to make this event a great success
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