An honest,sincere and hardworking student of Milind Vidyalay, Pooja Ambure, the daughter of a construction worker, dreamt of becoming a doctor ever since she was a child.

She scored 91% in her SSC, and through school she was nominated for an Excel scholarship from Kotak Education Foundation. Though her parents couldn't afford to financially support her dream, Kotak Education Foundation’s Excel scholarship  allowed Pooja to score 74.77% in her HSC Board examination.

She fought all odds to convince her family and relatives to allow her to leave the house and study at a dedicated tutorial, miles away from home. Sending a daughter far from home was a tough call to make for her father, but they agreed. Her sheer hard work and dedication paid off when she scored well in the MH-CET (Medical entrance test).

Committed to her dreams and pursuing them with a sustained attitude, she managed to achieve a seat in V M Medical College,Solapur.

Over time, she continued to make tough choices, so that she could focus on her medical studies. Being passionate about the medical profession, she put in twice as much as the others. She scored 65% in her MBBS, and this first generation learner from her family took a step forward to serve humanity.

In May 2021, she was asked to join as an intern in Civil Hospital,Solapur. Soon, she will pursue her post graduation in a preferred specialisation.

The world may throw challenges, but those who dream big eventually achieve what they want.

Yasmin Shaikh is a mother of three. Her son Amin is in Standard 4 of Dharamveer Sambhaji Vidyalay. She learned about           Parvarish through Amin’s teacher. She was initially apprehensive and had irregular attendance, but, during an assessment call, a Parvarish facilitator was able to address her concerns. She told the facilitator that she needed support because her son was performing poorly at school. 

The facilitator gently suggested that scolding Amin to study would be counterproductive and that Yasmin should involve herself more in his studies. After doing some activities together, she began to implement Love Languages and started to enjoy herself. This positive response from his mother made Amin interested in his education and he started studying much more. 

Yasmin now attends workshops regularly, and has a submission rate of 100%. Amin is now a much more dedicated student, showing that focusing on parents can result in a dramatic impact on their children.

Prerana Balasaheb Bhosale is a student at AFAC School in the 8th Grade. Prerana attended all the sessions and activities in the Kishori Sehat Abhiyan awareness programme conducted by HEALTH for adolescent girls where she learnt more about topics like COVID-19 safety protocols, anemia, nutrition, menstrual hygiene, and puberty.

Prerana also attended the online Kishori Friendly Clinic where it was determined that malnutrition had stunted her growth. Doctors provided guidance to Prerana and her family with the resources available to them at home by incorporating a healthy diet and exercise. After following the prescribed regimen, Prerana not only began to feel fitter but was also able to concentrate more on her lessons and improve her learning outcomes.

Prerna is now a healthy young girl who is eager to study and get an education.

Asha Negi, a 2nd grade teacher in Dhanraji Pal Vidyalaya, has been teaching for multiple decades. Asha was unfamiliar with technology and needed assistance switching from offline teaching to online teaching platforms. She initially struggled with using technology but through the coaching, role modelling and tech webinars conducted by the Guru team, she became confident enough to start conducting online classes on Google Meet.

Asha used the inquiry-based pedagogical approach to construct her 5E lesson plans and always included reflective questions for the class. Her use of the live worksheets to conduct assignments was immensely enjoyed by her students who would proudly share their marks on the class WhatsApp group. 

KEF could not be prouder of Asha, and is confident that she will continue to prove that there is never an age to stop learning.

Kiran Bhosale, a scholarship student of KEF's EXCEL intervention, cleared the CA foundation exam in the first attempt this year, stupendous success and a moment of pride for all of us.

A soft-spoken and hardworking girl, Kiran, whose father is an auto-rickshaw driver and her mother is a helping staff in a hospital, has greatly benefited from the Excel program's mentoring sessions, counselling career guidance sessions, which helped her deal with various other odds and focus on her studies.

Last year, Kiran had secured an impressive 93.07 % in the HSC board and had stood 2nd in her college (Swami Vivekananda College) in the Commerce stream, while topping in the English subject!

It's remarkable how despite coming from a vernacular medium, she topped her college in English!

Kiran is now continuing her CA studies, which was always her cherished dream.

Kiran's is as much a story of grit and determination as it is a tale of stupendous consistency and subsequent achievement. We at KEF are extremely happy for her. May all her endeavors be crowned with success.

It gives a sense of overwhelming joy to know that one of our Excel scholars, Pranit Gaykar is now Dr. Pranit Gaykar!

Pranit has not only completed his MBBS and 6 month internship, but is all set to start working at the Government Medical College, Raigad. With his own hard work and consistent Excel guidance and scholarship, Dr. Pranit is ready to embark on his career.

Kotak Education Foundation has been working tirelessly since almost 15 years towards empowering students through education.

The challenges to help students whose families have a very modest monthly income, have been immense. However, with an incredible support system of teachers, mentors and volunteers, we are now seeing the fruit of our efforts.

Kimaya Joshi is a ‘Bloom’ student of Umang who has relished the challenge of using new tools to study online. In her two years of association with Umang, Kimaya has progressed from “remedial” to “good” on Umang’s assessment parameters. This incredible growth can be seen in Kimaya’s exceptional performance in competitions. 

She was one of the 4 winners among the 5th Standard participants in an online inter-school English Competition organized by English E. Teach, an online English learning platform.  The competition was conducted with over 15,000 students across 23 districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Kimaya has also won awards in multiple internal competitions organised between Umang schools.

Kimaya is an exemplary performer and we are confident that she will continue to be a stellar student with Umang.

Shahida Shaikh was a beneficiary of the Banking Financial Sector and Insurance (BFSI) training conducted by the Unnati team. She was able to secure a job with SBI Capital Securities, earning a salary of 1,50,000 per annum.

After graduating during the lockdown, Shahida was sitting idle at home. She and her best friend heard about Unnati and signed up together. Shahida was an ideal student who was able to reap the full benefits of her training sessions. The Spoken English training sessions particularly improved her confidence. Engaging activities like repeating tongue twisters and participating in group debates gave her the assurance that she could communicate effectively and thrive in professional environments.

With this confidence, Shahida was able to ace her interview and join her friend at SBI Capital. We are confident that Shahida will excel at her new job and continue to be an advertisement for the success of Unnati.