Kidovators 2014 – A Disruption in Education Sector! We Need your Help and Support, Rodinhooders :-)

Hey Guys,

This is my first ever post on the Rodinhoods and feels really amazing to be doing so. Asha told me that we should write about Kidovators 2014 on Rodinhoods and I was definitely not letting go of this opportunity. I am an ardent Rodinhooder and had the luck of meeting Alok and speaking at Bangalore’s first TRHS Open House. A brief intro about myself – I am Priyadeep (better known as PD or PeeDee) and I founded a small educational start-up called Gyan Lab that has taken up the initiative to cleanse the ‘mightily useless’ education system of India using a totally practical approach – Fun-ducation. I, along with Sonali (co-founder) and the team, work out of Bangalore.

There is a sense of satisfaction at the Gyan Lab office these days. We pulled off a major national level competition – Kidovators 2013 in style, its first edition itself, that we had no clue of doing even 8 months back. I believe it is the students, schools and parents of India who should get the credit for the same. We went to them only with a concept, with no proof available, with no experience in conducting a innovative unique challenge on a national level. And yet, they accepted to give us a chance to showcase what we have got! We had a little more than 25,000 students participate in the challenge from 87 cities and towns across India at Kidovators 2013. We had the Top 150 from all over India travel to Bangalore to participate in the Grand Finale and compete to become ‘Champion Kidovator of India’.

And this generosity of theirs is leading to a major disruption in the national level challenge scenario as Kidovators 2014 is round the corner. We are bigger, bolder and much more confident this time around. We know that the education community of India is looking for a change from the regular, from the ordinary. When we started Kidovators last year, the goal was fixed and focussed – to create a challenge that stimulates a real life experience for kids, strong enough to help them prepare for life ahead. So, we never wanted to stay in the test/olympiad league since these tests only help you gauge a kid’s competitive level and preparedness for IIT-JEE or CAT or UPSC but not actually for life.

How has this Challenge proved us right and initiated the process of building leaders of future? How has this disrupted the national level competition scenario? How has this challenge stepped a notch ahead of existing ventures focusing on academia while we touch the pressing issue of preparing our kids for a strong future? Read below to know more! These are excerpts from the statements that these school students gave out about various global problems.

When we asked, “How do you make sure that your government (of a struggling economy) fills its treasury?” the following was the response of class 3 students (8 year olds):

Tejas: They can give out the resources of the country in exchange for money.

Pahal: Improve tourism so that more people come to the country and spend money here.

Gabriel: Increase the taxes on rich people and use this money to feed the poor.

Samarth, class 6 finalist who was the Head of State of Iran on being asked about potable water crisis in Iran, said, “It is very important to desalinate the water that is one of the main ways for a water source. Underground pipelines are needed in order to make water available to people”.

Krina, class 7 finalist who was the Head of State of Saudi Arabia talking about Women’s Rights, said, “Even if we give all the rights and freedom to a woman, they will still be bound because they lack the support of the society and family. First we have to change the perspective of the people around us, then everything else can happen.” According to her, this is the first step to take.

Yash, class 7 finalist who was also speaking on Women’s Rights, “Women are treated like merchandise. Women are treated like properties. It’s tribal culture and should be stopped for us to get ahead in changing.”

Only if we keep growing and taking Kidovators to a larger population, I believe we are slowly disrupting the education sector and ensuring that kids think out of box so that ‘real education’ can take place. We have had numerous schools, parents, teachers and students telling us they have never seen or participated in a competition of this nature and it will go a long way in shaping up the lives of every kid who participates in Kidovators Challenge. We, in our place, are keeping our fingers crossed.

So, we have made some basic edits in Kidovators 2014 over the last edition with Class 9 being added along with Classes 3 – 8 that were eligible to participate last year. We also have some really cool prizes such as:

• The Best School Award with Cash Prize of Rs 150,000 

• Most Enterprising School Award with Cash Prize of Rs 100,000

• Prizes worth Rs 100,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 for Top 1 – 3 Rankers in every class (Class 3 – 9)

• Awards worth Rs 5,000 for Ranks 4 – 10 of every class and Rs 2,000 for Ranks 11 – 25 of every class.

• We are also awarding school/state toppers, and Principals and Teachers who are ensuring a quality future for their students. 

I would request you to help us take the challenge to your school, your child’s school, your nephew/niece’s school and to every school that you know people in. We are a start-up and not a marketing behemoth. We are doing our bit to the best of our financial and time-bound capabilities, but we need your help to ensure this edition of Kidovators really goes even larger!

You can find the Kidovators Website here

You can find the Participation Details here

You can find Kidovators on Facebook here

I have also attached the Kidovators poster and information brochure with the post

Regards,

PD 🙂