Motivation:

    It has long been felt that the present education system in our country lacks the basic elements of practical knowledge, ethical and virtuous value system. This kind of educational system is not of much use in the life of a common villager nor does it help making him self-sustained or self-dependent. Inspired by such rational thoughts, a group of IIT Kanpur students together with some socially active persons from the locality decided to overcome this bottleneck by setting up an educational system that would go beyond the narrow bookish education and link the education to requirements of everyday life of students. These concepts led to the establishment of “Shiksha Sopan”, literally meaning ‘a ladder to education’.

Aim:

     Our primary aim is to establish an educational institution in underdeveloped localities close to IIT Kanpur that will build knowledgeable, self-dependent, confident, socially conscious beings who would be responsible and sensitive to society. Shiksha Sopan has formulated its education system to achieve three main objectives.

Shiksha:

    Shiksha means education, not only to make machines out of people, but to produce socially sensitive, cultured and responsible citizen who will assets and not liabilities for society. Leaving aside the most commonly followed scheme of education through chalk and talk alone, a balanced delivery of knowledge through games, educational visits, audio and visual aids, demonstrations etc. is the theme on which we are trying to run our system.

Sanskar:

    Character building and inculcation of moral values to develop sense of altruism, feeling of patriotism and respect for humanity among its disciples and beneficiaries through regular practices is one of our main objectives.

Swavlamban:

      Unemployment is one of the most serious problems of mankind. And the solution lies in developing respect for human labour. During the school education we are trying to train the students in various labour-oriented skills that will help them creating employment for themselves. These include tailoring, handicrafts and production of consumable items such as candles, notebooks, etc. Such exercise will build self confidence and respect for labour and help the student in acquiring enough expertise in at least one profession to earn live hood for himself/herself. 

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Message

From the President Dr. Sameer Khandekar,

Dept of Mechanical Engg., IIT Kanpur

When we look at our own society, in and around us, while there is ‘development’ on many fronts, simultaneously though, we are forced to note many instances of social transformations which may possibly annihilate our own identity. Summarized here are some such personal observations concerning my society there seems to be a general apathy on issues of national interest; individualism is on the rise ‘sense of belonging’ towards our own culture is rapidly diminishing a class of urban society is developing at an

enormous pace which look only towards the outside cultures as their ideals while there is a gamut of attitudes, work culture, civic sense, sense of belonging,etc. which we may adopt from foreign cultures, whatwe are actually picking up from them is indeed quite the opposite there seems to be a sizable population, which seems to have lost the direction in life, finding it difficult to find role models for inspiration being religious is confined to showing off ‘external’ form, features and dogmas rather than understanding and practicing true ‘religion’ as soon a person comes in the positions of ‘haves’, he/she shows complete indifference to the ‘have nots’ section of his/her own society ‘cleaning ones house and throwing the garbage across the boundary wall’ seems to be  a national behavior on all levels the true meaning of ‘education’ is badly tarnished ‘financial success’ is becoming the only parameter of judging a person’s capabilities ‘Success at any cost’ is becoming the norm, keeping aside all moral values the phrase ‘Chalta hai’ is becoming dangerously popular in all walks of life many parents are not teaching their children their own mother tongue ‘introspection’ is becoming less and less popular  … and many more.        

While civilizations and societies are not immune to degradation and ultimate extinction, our social duty ought to be the preservation of the inheritance thereby postponing the inevitable. We, at ‘Shiksha Sopan’, are committed to work in this direction; small dreams will finally lead to big transformations. The IIT system and culture must reflect on the society, on and around which, it thrives. The ‘haves’ must give a share to the ‘have nots’ and work towards assimilating them into the mainstream.

If you also get worried by some of the points listed above, come and join hands, for contributing your share towards a better tomorrow through ‘Shiksha’, ‘Sanskar’, and ‘Swavlamban’ for the children who live around our campus.

We are happy to put forward this report on our activities and aspirations and hope that you will get a glimpse of our dreams through this document.

With best wishes and regards,

Sameer Khandekar

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From the Secretary Prof. H. C. Verma,

Dept of Physics, IIT Kanpur

Dear Friends,

    Shiksha Sopan has almost completed its four years. It has been a great experience for those who have been involved in its activities. It has brought hundreds of families together, and given a feeling of the common one-ness among different sections of society. If we have been able to make a contribution to shaping the personality of small kids from villages through the education, games and cultural activities, we have ourselves learnt a lot about the social dynamics.

     The achievement of the organization in its tender age is by no means small.  Through the evening centers and the Sopan Vidyalay, Barasirohi, we are in direct contact with more than 200 families in the villages surrounding IITK. The kind of talent that has been nurtured at these centers has been demonstrated time to time in various performances and spectators were amazed to observe. Some glimpses are given in this report.

     If the achievements are not small, the task ahead is also not small. The initial success has given us confidence and in the coming years we would like to develop our school and evening learning centers as vibrant centers of immense educational, economic and cultural activities. We have to move ahead towards our dream of turning Shiksha Sopan into a vehicle of social transformation, where the future citizens are confident, self reliant and committed to the basic principles of humanity so deeply inculcated in the Indian values.

    Join the movement and be a part of the transformation.

With best wishes and regards,

H. C. Verma