World This Week : Largest Literacy Movement by Ekal

Ekal movement allows millions of people in India to have the right to dream said Dr Nitin Nohria, Dean of Harvard Business School in an event “Power of Education Forum” organised by the “Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation” (EVF-USA), an organisation that brings education to millions of underprivileged children in remote rural and tribal parts of India, at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, on May 1. The Ekal movement is the largest, grassroots, non-government education movement in India, operating in over 46,966 villages and educating over 1,335,078 children in rural India. Its philosophy is to take a holistic approach to social and economic development. On May 1, 2014, EVF brought academicians, entrepreneurs, and community leaders of stellar credentials together, to explore various avenues under “EKAL” to empower neglected millions through state-of the art technology and techniques. Ranjani Saigal, the executive director and Vinod Jhunjhunwala, President of EVF-USA made introductory remarks about the organisation, its objectives and its recent accomplishments. There was a panel discussion titled “Ekal” in the 21st centuries—New opportunities.” The participants were Dr Subra Dravida, of Qualcomm, Dr Anantha Chandrakasan, MIT, Dr Sanjay Sharma, MIT, Dr Raj Sisodia, co-founder and Chairman of the Conscious Capitalism Institute, and professor at Babson College touched upon the impact of entrepreneurship on development.