Three Harvard & MIT Students enhance their leadership and creativity skills during their summer by working with the India School Fund (ISF) in rural Uttar Pradesh on its unique model to help break the vicious cycle of poverty!

These students are part of a team of young and extraordinarily-committed volunteers – students and alumni - from some of the best universities in US and India that want to use their skills and network to help less fortunate children access a brighter future. The dream of all ISF volunteers is to see every child evolve into an empowered citizen, entrepreneur, employee or graduate of higher education, thereby moving forward on the ladder of development.
 
The non-profit organization was developed in 2005 by five Harvard Business School (HBS) students to ensure effective delivery of education in poor, rural areas of India. The first school opened in 2005 in Rajugela, (UP) for more than 250 children, and the organization plans to expand to 10 new schools in the next 5 years. The school has so far delivered amazing results! Indeed, Pratham recently assessed the performance of children at ISF against those in surrounding villages and the results were outstanding: children at ISF learn 28 times faster than their peers in the control group! And although the attendance rate of children and teachers in surrounding villages rarely exceeds 30%, the rate in the ISF School in Rajugela is above 90%!
 
So what is so unique about the ISF method? First, the founders selected the best educational method in India, the Rishi Valley. The method was further improved and adapted to rural conditions. It relies on three pillars:

   1. An innovative multi-grade multi-level methodology (MGML) that enables children to return to school and assimilate back into the classroom, even after long gaps.
   2. A sense of social and communal responsibility by involving the whole village
   3. A holistic approach to children’s development by allowing students to acquire not only literacy skills, but also an entrepreneurial mindset early on in their development.


To achieve its goal, ISF relies on a unique model that empowers not only children on the ground in rural India, but also Harvard and MIT students in the US who want to create a positive change: for them, ISF provides a life-changing social enterepreneurship opportunity to impact the lives of people in poor rural areas through field studies & internships on the ground. It also offers them the unique and enriching possibility to strengthen their leadership and interpersonal skills, become self-starters and take initiatives to make change happen. ISF is also creating amazing opportunities for graduate students at MIT in the ICT4Dev class and at the Harvard School of Public School to conceive, develop and later implement a plan, and create the right framework on the gorund to help break the vicious cycle of poverty!
 

Learn more about the exciting and challenging Summer experience of Harvard and MIT students with ISF!
 

We need your support!

ISF is funded by private individuals who believe in the right to and power of education to make sustainable progress. Currently, annual operating cost per child is $ 170. We will reduce them down to $100 as we scale up. If you share our dream of enabling these rural children to own their future, please help us in our efforts.

For more information or to donate, visit http://www.indiaschoolfund.org. You can also contact Annie Bertrand, ISF Co-founder and President, annie@indiaschoolfund.com, +1 518-282-4783 or Vandita Tewari, CEO ISF India, vandita@indiaschoolfund.org, +91 98 73 09 3130.

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