Voice the Void is a project conceived by Spurti Aluru, a student at TISB Bangalore, with the idea of empowering visually impaired individuals by building prototypes of audiobooks for blind students.
Aaliyah Merchant, a student at Headstart Educational Academy, came up with the idea of ‘Gray Matter’, an initiative to address the lack of knowledge on stroke prevention among individuals in India.
Eesha Kadwadkar. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Eesha Kadwadkar, a student at Oberoi International School, Mumbai, came up with the idea of RescYou, a chatbot platform that helps children access information and assistance from mental health professionals.
The youngsters came up with these impressive projects with the help of Purpose Academy, a Bengaluru-based organisation that aims to shape students into the problem solvers of tomorrow.
Manav Subodh. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The confused youth
Founded by Manav Subodh, a former global ambassador at UC Berkeley and curator of the Activate Impact Youth Summit at the UN, Purpose Academy works with students to identify their passion and design their higher studies and careers around the same.
“I have been working with youngsters in the entrepreneurship and skilling space for a while now,” says Subodh.
“When I meet students, I see they are confused. There are rising suicide cases and mental wellness issues among them. Earlier if the parents wanted their kids to get into IITs or become doctors, today they want them to go abroad.”
According to Subodh, it was this situation that prompted him to start Purpose Academy.
“It offers a unique programme which helps young people find out what they are truly passionate about, to plan their academics around it and to make it into a career. That will lead to a happier generation”
Spurti Aluru. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The programme
The programme that spans for six months starts with identifying the calling of each student, says Subodh who adds that a specially designed curriculum helps to achieve this.
“But identifying the passion is only half battle won. We then help them distinguish whether it’s a hobby, academic interest or career interest. In the next stage, we also put the money lens to it.”
“Then we help them design a project that would help them test themselves as well as create a real impact in the world. They have to look out for partners for these projects and we help them connect with mentors.”
The partners of Purpose Academy include UC Berkeley among others.
According to Subodh, the team utilises the Berkeley method of entrepreneurship to transform the entrepreneurial ideas of students into reality.
“Apart from Berkeley we also take students to Nvidia, eBay etc where they get industry experience.”
The parent factor
But what if the parents don’t approve of the identified passion of their kid?
Subodh admits that such instances are not rare. “It has happened many times. In such situations, the student either drops out of the programme or we convince the parents. We have been able to do that many times since we are capable of articulating it. We are not saying your child should become a philanthropist. We are saying let’s see where passion, purpose and money can meet.”
The programme which has so far mentored more than 100 students, is now entering its fifth batch. The team plans to scale it up further.
“I see that more and more students are today interested in interdisciplinary studies which is why many of them want to go abroad. We need more universities that offer liberal arts or existing universities to add liberal arts to retain them. Someday, we would love to set up an academy or institution where we can take forward that philosophy in a campus format. That’s where we are headed.”
Published - August 30, 2024 09:00 am IST
