Private gains, public good

The ideology

Dressed in a check shirt and much-worn sandals, Sridhar Rajagopalan could easily be mistaken for a genial professor. But behind this simple façade is a determined entrepreneur.

For, at an age when most of his batchmates from IIT Chennai and IIM Ahmedabad were looking forward to working with the best business houses across the globe, Rajagopalan wanted to take on assignments that would benefit the masses. At 25, Rajagopalan’s career plan was not limited to fancy salaries and impressive designations. Which is why he didn’t think twice about quitting as a technical specialist at IBM and joining a nonprofit education foundation.

Today, as a co-founder and managing director of Educational Initiatives (EI), a Rs 8-crore company focused on improving the quality of learning and education in schools, the 38-year-old has come closer to achieving his altruistic goals.

Early start

The idea for a non-profit educational institute was floated by Sunil Handa, a guest faculty at the IIM and managing director, Core Emballage, an Ahmedabad-based packaging solutions company. The implementation was taken up by Rajagopalan and his two batchmates from the IIM, Venkat Krishnan and Sudhir Godke. “Handa met some of us in September 1995 to give shape to his vision and the three of us decided to quit our jobs on 1 January 1996, to be part of this venture,” says Rajagopalan.

Taking a salary cut, the three got down to setting up the Eklavya Education Foundation, the funds for which were provided by Handa. Money and failure did not figure very high on Rajagopalan’s risk list. “I had no financial responsibility and if we failed we could always go back to our corporate jobs,” he says.

Setting up a model school that aimed at revolutionising education through a multi-pronged approach introduced Rajagopalan to a completely new field. “I had spent time thinking of the areas where I could make an impact and education was one way of making a lasting difference. If we can do something to help improve the quality of learning and education, we are addressing the root of the problem,” he says.

Handa’s project provided the right platform to explore this ideology. “From coining the name and working on the curriculum to setting up the school and coordinating with the NGOs for students, each day was a learning experience for us,” says Rajagopalan.

Making a mark

In June 1997, they set up the Eklavya School in Ahmedabad, which integrated 75% of students from affluent families with 25% street children in all classrooms. The experiment worked well and the school soon acquired a formidable reputation.

Over the next five years, Rajagopalan helped the school grow. Soon, however, he realised the importance of training teachers to carry the initiative forward. Subsequently, he conceptualised and implemented the running of the Eklavya Institute of Teacher Education. Gradually, ennui set in as he realised that the objective was limited to just one school.

Along with his colleagues, he decided to locate the areas where studying by rote was creating gaps in learning. “Though the students write exams, score marks and are promoted, they are not developing critical thinking skills,” he says. The aim was to bridge these gaps by providing appropriate teaching tools.

Stepping it up

The quest for these tools ended in August 2001, when the three decided to exit Eklavya and start Educational Initiatives. “As we took meagre salaries, we were quite low on savings,” says Rajagopalan. With Rs 7.5 lakh in their kitty, the three turned entrepreneurs. “Our business plan was based on a simple premise that a profitmaking structure is better than a non-profit one, that a good idea need not translate into a loss-making enterprise,” he adds.

Convincing schools to test the efficacy of their teaching methods was not easy. They started by sending mailers to 1,000 schools and followed it up with personal visits. Even though only 25 schools agreed to take the tests in December 2001, it was a big step for EI. “Not once did we regret not following regular career paths,” he says. After the tests, EI held post-test assessment workshops with schools and followed this up with teacher training programmes. Most schools found the exercise beneficial and enrolled EI for the next year too.

EI broke even after two-and-a-half years. The conventional notion at the time was that only coaching and computer education institutes could break even in such a short time span. “We offered a programme to measure children’s real understanding (as opposed to an education system that stresses on marks). So it was gratifying to break even within three years,” he says.

Testing times

EI’s Asset Test, a diagnostic assessment test for students, has become quite popular. “Over 2.5 lakh students took this exam last year and we expect the number to double this year,” says Rajagopalan, who has expanded the services to include benchmarking assessments with government schools, Unicef, World Bank, Pratham (Azim Premji Foundation), the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and Naandi Foundation. EI has also conducted a national-level research on student understanding with Wipro, redesigned school curriculums, held India’s Child Genius Quiz with Star World and an entrance test for the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai.

Taking home modest salaries, the trio manage their personal finances without much difficulty. “Fortunately, our immediate families were keyed in to our vision and lifestyles,” says Rajagopalan, who continues to drive his old Santro and draws Rs 80,000 a month. But EI does not compromise when it comes to paying the staff. “Some employees take home a bigger salary than ours. It’s the team that is the actual wealth of a company,” explains Rajagopalan. Though the business is growing rapidly, Rajagopalan is not resting on his laurels. “We want the initiative to be equally popular at the grassroots. That’s our prime objective,” he says.