Balaji Sampath (born 17 January 1973)[1] is an Indian educationist, scientist,[2] and the founder and secretary of Association for India's Development - India chapter,[3][4] an India-based non-profit NGO that conducts science teaching and primary school programs for children to aid their educational development.[5] He is also the founder and CPO of AhaGuru, an educational online coaching startup that provides training courses on different subjects online.[6][7][8] He is also an author of science books for primary and higher level education.[2]
Personal life
Balaji was born in Chennai, India on 17 January 1973 into a family where both of his parents were government workers.[1][9] Because his parents were often transferred to different locations for their government jobs, as a child Balaji was exposed to a number of schools across India. He had difficulty in understanding scientific subjects due to "ineffective teaching". Early in life, he devised his own system of analysis and arriving at solutions.[9]
Education
Balaji appeared for IIT JEE and obtained All India Rank 4 in 1990,[10] considered one of the most difficult competitive exams in India. He completed his B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1994,[11][12] and his doctorate in Electronics and communication Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park.[12][13]
Career
Balaji started his career as a volunteer for AID United States chapter from 1994 while he was doing his doctorate.[14] After completing his PhD degree, he returned to India to work full-time on social issues in 1997 and founded AID India.[1][15][16] He worked with the Centre for Ecology and Rural Development and the Peoples Science Movement on Health and Education Programs. Balaji organized Peoples Health assembly campaign in 2000 at a national level and began campaigning for better public education and access to healthcare, especially in the rural areas.[1]
AID India trains teachers in government schools with the goal of improving the quality of teaching, especially for science and mathematics by using innovative techniques and devising educational aid.[15] The mission of AID India is to empower socially disadvantaged sections of the society through socio-economic development programs, education, providing micro credit, and providing training in the areas of health, human rights and utilization of resources for income generation.[17]
In 2011, Balaji started Ahaguru.com, an online education portal to enhance science and math learning and problem-solving skills of middle and high school students. The startup, "a pioneer in online coaching", provides training courses completely online. It covers physics, chemistry and math for classes 7 to 12 for CBSE, NEET and JEE. The full year course is modelled like a classroom with teachers explaining concepts and showing how to solve different questions.[1][18][19][20]
Awards
- IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award 2012.[12]
- Times of India Social Impact Award for AID, 2011 from Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2011.[21]
- Ashoka Fellowship for innovative work on Science Education.[13]
- Lemelson Inventor Certificate for Science Education.[12]
- MIT Indus Technovator's Award 2005 for Village Libraries and Science Education.[22]
- Rotary Distinguished Service Award by the Rotary Club of Madras South.[12]
- Pratham USA Achievement Award 2006 for improving reading skills in Tamil Nadu.[12]
- Association for India's Development JS Fellowship, 1998.[9]
- All India Rank 4 in the IITJEE, 1990.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Dr. Balaji Sampath. ahaguru.academia.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-03.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Our team | SODEWS. www.sodews.org. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ Breaking the English Barrier. The Hindu(3 July 2017). Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ↑ Event report: Making RTE Effective: Strategies, Constraints, Outcomes (includes video). The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ↑ The E-Street Entrepreneurs, Anjali, Puri. Outlook(18 September 2006). Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ↑ AhaGuru.com: Education start-up's on-demand online coaching, Somu, Kumar. Medium. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
- ↑ Tamasomaa Jyotirgamaya - From Darkness to Light - NGM. www.psbbschools.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students. Business Standard India(11 April 2017). Retrieved 29 August 2017.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Eureka Child - An AID-India Education Initiative. www.eurekachildusa.org. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students. Business Standard India(2017-04-11). Retrieved 2017-12-11.
- ↑ Eureka School - Where Every Child Matters. www.eurekaschool.org. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Citations: 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Awards Recipients | Office Of Alumni Relations. alumni.iitm.ac.in. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Effective Education Initiatives for rural India - A talk by Dr. Balaji Sampath. allevents.in. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ They live, work & prosper in foreign lands but sweat it out for India, Umachandran, Shalini. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Non Stop India{{#if:Tully|, Tully}. Penguin Group(2011). ISBN 9780670083893
- ↑ Effective People{{#if:Rao|, Rao}. Random House India(18 December 2015). ISBN 978-8184005837
- ↑ Social Entrepreneurs: Transforming India. I Will Impact({Template:Date).
- ↑ Only 2.5% of students in IIT race from TN, Ramya|, M. The Times of India(6 May 2014). Retrieved 30 August 2017.
- ↑ It's Payback Time. The Hindu(9 May 2009). Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ↑ Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students, Ani. Yahoo News(11 April 2017). Retrieved 4 September 2017.
- ↑ Social Impact Awards 2012-2013 - The Times of India. timessocialawards.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2017-09-04.
- ↑ Global Indus Technovator Awards. web.mit.edu. Retrieved 2017-09-04.