Sudheshna Sinha and husband Sujit are co-founders of Shikshamitra (‘Education Mate’), an alternative school and education resource centre (estb. 2005). A psychology graduate of Calcutta University with a special needs education diploma from Mumbai University, Sudeshna has worked in special and mainstream schools for over seven years. An IIT-Kanpur alumnus with a doctorate from Princeton University, Sujit is currently a professor of development at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Newspeg. On April 18 Shikshamitra celebrated its ninth year of operations by announcing the launch of curriculum development and teacher training programmes for schools in eastern India. “We will also offer schools gender sensitisation, personality development, and life skills programmes,” says Sudeshna.

History. Given Sudeshna’s specialisation and work experience with underprivileged and special needs children, the couple promoted the Swanirvar Trust in 1990 to provide education to poor and challenged children in West Bengal’s backward North 24 Parganas district. More than a decade later, in 2005 they promoted the Shikshamitra school and education resources centre with a first batch of 17 students tutored by four teachers. However, the school was closed down in 2011, to enable the duo to concentrate on developing teacher training programmes and supplementary content and services designed to improve children’s learning outcomes.

During the past three years, Shikshamitra master trainers have conducted teacher development programmes in 54 government schools training 381 teachers in addition to 407 NGO teachers. Financial support is provided by Indienhilfe, Association for India’s Development (AID) and Wipro Applying Thought in Schools (WATIS) among other education and philanthropic organisations.

Direct talk. “Children of diverse backgrounds have differing learning needs and standardised curriculums prompt millions of children to drop out of the education system. In Shikshamitra we believe curriculums must be customised for schools and special needs children within them, and teachers must be sensitised to the needs of learners,” says Sudeshna.

Future plans. With Shikshamitra’s goals and objectives clearly defined, this go-getting duo is contemporising its teacher training programmes, propagating a libraries movement and developing content not only for children but adult learners, and youth who have dropped out of education. “There’s a new movement in K-12 education with a focus on measuring learning outcomes. Shikshamitra aspires to be in the vanguard,” says Sudeshna.

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)