EDU tells it's positive tale!

In a bid to bridge the gap between education in the rural and urban circles, this young entrepreneur ventured into the digital space to resolve the issue. Simple and straight-forward, this workaholic escapes to hill stations and spends time trekking when he is free. He says, “I don't really take frequent vacations or breaks because I enjoy my work. The only other thing that keeps me happy and high-spirited is playing cricket.’’ 

Born in a nondescript and obscure village in Karnataka, Harsha Mahabala was always aware of the stark contrast between schools in his village compared to ones in the city. As a kid, he saw many children of his age drop out of school to do menial jobs. But Harsha couldn’t just let it be. “I got to know about the satellite ‘Edusat’ during my college days and I started experimenting with the satellite bandwidth at the ISRO Headquarters which was just a kilometre away from college. After completing my degree from IIM-Bangalore, in 2010, I started my venture Edutel along with my brother. Our dream was to bridge the gap between rural and urban education,’’ Harsha recalls. His venture currently reaches out to 1,86,000 students in Karnataka from his studio in Bengaluru — everyday, teaching them Mathematics, Science and English.

Accolades

He was awarded the WSIS Prize 2015 by International Telecommunication Union and United Nations at World Summit on the Information Society Top 15 Global Finalist Projects. 

The social side    
With a significant number of schools still grappling with lack of good teachers, academic resources and financial support, Harsha’s venture took centre stage with sustainable solutions. Focusing on providing a ‘true guru for every child,’ it has already provided digital education for over 5,500 schools/colleges. “When I thought about this idea, I found that inclusiveness, equity, quality and employability are the four shortcomings of the current educational system. To address this problem, we cumulated a network of teachers across the nation to mentor kids who are from underprivileged backgrounds,’’ says Harsha. 

The future is bright
His venture aims at delivering quality education to rural and urban poor through holistic digital education and will soon be implemented in 4000 more schools. Keeping deadlines and schedules intact, farming is always in vogue for this young entrepreneur who finds time to drop in frequenly and take good care of the vegetable garden in the backyard of his house.