Dr. K. R. Shroff Foundation
December 16, 2022

Gujarat’s KRSF foundation is here on a mission to bridge the gap in education of tribal children

Gujarat’s KRSF foundation is here on a mission to bridge the gap in education of tribal children

Technopreneur Pratul Shroff established his business, eInfochips, in 1995 after returning to Gujarat from the United States in 1987. In order to focus solely on his social work, he sold the business in 2018 to Arrow Electronics Inc., which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He made the decision to work for Gujarat's tribal education. As soon as he began researching the topic, he discovered that tribal students in Gujarat's government schools experienced significant learning gaps and a high dropout rate. In 2012, he founded the KRSF foundation.

His experiment is changing the tide after 10 years. KRSF has established a complementary structure that is bridging the learning gaps of the students in subjects like Math, English and Science across hundreds of villages in the state's tribal villages. The foundation tracks the progress of each student in a particular data-based system, analysing their progress and problems, and developing specific strategies to address the issues.

This has significantly lowered the dropout rates on the one hand while also changing the lives of the students on the other. Students who previously struggled to read and write despite being in higher classes now aspire to succeed outside of their villages.

It took some time for the news to settle in. There were tears. But this time, Suresh Parmar was sobbing with joy at his success. In addition to being the only science student in his village, he will also be the first doctor.

He gave his mother a strong hug before rushing to his second house down the street. Rahul Joshi, his teacher, shared his excitement. Their joint effort has now yielded results. The kid of a farm labourer in Gujarat's Banskantha district is the first from this remote village to pass the NEET exam.If it weren't for Suresh's teacher and mentor Rahul Joshi and the Dr KR Shroff Foundation, his story may have been similar to any other in the area.

Suresh is hardly the only example, though. In the tribal districts of Gujarat's hinterland, KRSF and teachers like Rahul Joshi who were trained by the foundation have been collaborating with government schools to enhance the current educational system and change the lives of kids like Suresh.

In the past, students in government schools in the interior tribal districts frequently struggled to keep up with the requirements of the classes they were advanced to. KRSF recognised this void and stepped in to fill it. When Pratul Shroff, a philanthropist and software entrepreneur, founded KRSF in 2012, they did so with the goal of bridging the skills gap between students and instructors by using a management-based approach. Based on ongoing testing and analysis by internally-built software, the group hired one complimentary instructor in each school they partner with to offer extra support to the students. The procedure results in the discovery of particular problems in particular areas, such as attendance, academic performance, and other problems.

According to Munjal Desai, programme manager for KRSF, “Based on the routine monitoring, we get both macro and micro views of individual student's requirements as well as that of the schools or districts, and accordingly, targets are set and strategies devised.” While the foundation primarily collaborates with the schools to provide the students with the necessary support to ensure quality education, promising students like Suresh are adopted and cared for till the very end. Currently, KRSF is working with 41,685 children from 541 schools spread across 12 blocks in 6 districts of the state, employing 559 teachers, team leaders, and cluster heads, fundamentally boosting the provision of education to residents of the state's most rural areas.

This is the realisation of a lifelong dream for Shroff. “I always wanted to do something for India and that’s why returned to India back in 1987 even before the liberalization happened. Now that I am in my early sixties, I felt I should devote my entire time to this and here I am," he says with a smile.

KRSF is working with 41,685 children from 541 schools spread across 12 blocks in 6 districts of the state, employing 559 teachers, team leaders, and cluster heads, fundamentally boosting the provision of education to residents of the state’s most rural areas

DATA-BASED SYSTEM TO TRACK PROGRESS Ahmedabad: KRSF has established a complementary structure that is bridging the learning gaps of the students in subjects like Math, English and Science across hundreds of villages in the state’s tribal villages. The foundation tracks the progress of each student in a particular data-based system, analysing their progress and problems, and developing specific strategies to address the issues.

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