Anamika Majumder arrived in Boston, MA in 1998 after her undergraduate studies at the National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India. Fast forward to 2010 - by then, she had a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts and possessed almost a decade of work experience in the software industry. Her family got an opportunity to move to Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. And that is when the idea to give back came to her.

Says Anamika, "I neither followed the local language nor knew anyone in the city, and was not familiar with the city, or the outskirts. However, I did not want to let go of what seemed to be a perfect opportunity to give back to a country where I'd gotten my school and undergraduate engineering degree free of cost. I went to several villages and noticed that state-run schools were everywhere, but the way of teaching felt too prescriptive even to someone who had no experience in teaching". That is when One Billion Literates Foundation was registered as a charitable organization.

Who is the team behind OBL? Why did you choose this name?

The mission was to work as a partner to the State Government by leveraging the existing infrastructure of public elementary schools and running a Program to impart basic English comprehension skills using fun-filled activities and technologies. A lady who can communicate in English and continues to live next door to the first school where we had started working came forward to help me with the teaching. Eventually, many more women came forward to join forces.  

The vision was to build a model that could be replicated across the country – hence the name. 

For the next several years, the foundation under the leadership of Ruby Kamdin a Chartered Account (and our current CFO) and Mahesh Shetty (our very efficient Program Manager) expanded the School Adoption Program to more than 75 schools in Anekal Block and impacted the lives of more than 5000 children and over 100 rural women.

In the Spring of 2020 just about when countrywide lockdowns were being announced to contain the Coronavirus, Anish Ramachandran (ex-VP Intel) took the helm of the foundation and has made some tremendous impact in the lives of the underserved. The Operations team comprises 15 dedicated people and there are currently around 65 rural women who work as para-teachers.

It has been almost a decade since I came back to Boston, but I have been actively engaged with the foundation and look back on with immense pride at what the team has been able to accomplish. 

What was the first inspiration that got you to think about rural education?

Even if about half the world's population that does not have Internet connectivity today, somehow gets access, there will still be the huge barrier of language that will stop people from becoming global citizens.

One out of every 7 people in the world lives in India - a young country with immense potential! It is estimated that around 900,000,000 people live in villages. This foundation was set up with the belief that if India were to ever reap the benefits of the often-mentioned demographic dividend, we need to improve the literacy skills of children and women living in the remotest parts of the country. This will enable them to contribute to the economy and become global citizens. 

It is interesting that you chose a cluster of villages in rural Karnataka. Could you tell us the philosophy behind this choice?

Back in 2010, during my trips to several villages near the Electronic City (home to many Multi-National Companies) of Bangalore, I realized that the State had done an excellent job of starting elementary schools everywhere so that distance did not impede learning. However, as reported YoY in countrywide studies, a massive learning deficit needed to be addressed in these schools.

The modus operandi of the foundation has been to focus on only one Taluk/Tehsil/Block (225 villages, 800,000 population) and intervene so that we can lay a solid foundation of the English language and instill a love of learning in the children. This in turn will eventually help them find meaningful employment. We have made a conscious decision not to explore other geographic locations until we have a ‘comprehensive care package’ ready to be replicated elsewhere.

What are some of the challenges that you see working with government teachers and parents? 

Public elementary schools are within the purview of Block Education Officers. The majority of headteachers at the schools in Anekal have welcomed our intervention because of recommendations from other schools and the BEO with whom the foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Parents who never got a chance to complete their formal education have also been supportive hoping that education will help their children break the cycle of poverty. Finding rural women continues to be a challenge, but OBLF has worked around this by engaging women without disturbing the rural ethos.  

Can you share with us a story of impact?

The last two years have shone a light on some of the finest human traits. On how ordinary people can be extraordinary and be change agents. Anish, Ruby, the small Operational team at OBLF and our para-teachers have made a tremendous impact in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in our area of operation. The Board has been very supportive of the relief work.

When lockdowns were announced, schools were closed and livelihoods were lost, for us at OBLF, it was not a question of whether we should make a pivot from the work we had been doing for the past decade. 

But how do we make ourselves useful during this massive healthcare crisis? This was uncharted territory. It was clear that we had a better chance of positive impact and outcome if we continued to focus on Anekal Block and drove a set of complementary strategies for our target beneficiaries in marginalized communities. Our team spent countless hours brainstorming the ins and outs, built fruitful partnerships on the ground to take on shared responsibilities. We partnered closely with the state health authorities and did everything we could from Running 3 Covid care centers to Providing medical supplies to public hospitals and Building Oxygen Plants and Pediatric Intensive Care Units in those facilities, to Creating capacity in frontline workers, to Promoting vaccine awareness in interior villages. We provided much needed humanitarian assistance and sustained communities that had lost their livelihoods for months and last but not the least vaccinated 15,000+ people.

Like every organization, big or small, we have had to re-imagine how to go about fulfilling our mission to impart quality education. The Pandemic has disproportionately affected lives. So, it was imperative to ensure continuity in learning, or else that would mean the end of childhood for millions. For the demographics we work with, access to laptops, smartphones, and the Web is not the norm, and exposure to the English language is very limited. So here again, we have innovated, and worked hard to develop highly engaging teaching and learning collaterals that can be used by our para-teachers on the ground. Our teachers have done us proud by ensuring that no child is left behind. 

The adverse conditions of the past 2 years have allowed us to identify gaps, revamp our curriculum to follow the Common European Framework of Reference, standardize processes, catch our teachers up on training. This holistic approach will help us during precedented, and unprecedented times going forward and enable us to grow our impact even more. 

What are the 3 priorities for the org that you are focusing on right now?

• Extending the School Adoption Program to pre-primary level and supplementing the in-person classroom teaching with digital learning. The idea is to build a solid foundation in the English language by doing this 10-year intervention in children in the age group 4-14.
• Train many more women from the rural communities to contribute to our miscellaneous initiatives. This will provide financial and intellectual independence to women who have never been employed and help multiply our impact. 
• The Pandemic has shown us that health and education are intertwined. The tremendous impact created by the small team at OBLF in the past 2 years has given us the confidence to take on a new Public Health Initiative and we are currently working on giving shape to this initiative.  

How can one get involved with the OBL?

I have been very fortunate and humbled to have worked with an extremely passionate and dedicated leadership team at OBLF for all these years. The team has nurtured a nascent organization into a very professional and purpose-driven organization. OBLF is an excellent platform to give back, and now we also have a presence in the United States.

We are looking for like-minded individuals with expertise in technology, content creation, digital learning, training, community rehabilitation, impact measurement or just to spread the word among communities around the world about the terrific work being done back home.

https://www.onebillionliterates.org/

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