Overview of Rajalakshmi Children Foundation’s

Pratibha Poshak
 Pratibha Poshak (meaning: Talent Nurturer)
An Initiative of Rajalakshmi Children Foundation

About Rajalakshmi Children Foundation

https://www.rajalakshmifoundation.in

Rajalakshmi Children Foundation (RCF), established in early 2013, is a non-profit organization

working for the health, education, and overall development of underprivileged children.
Currently we are primarily working with government schools, where most of the children come
from economically and socially disadvantaged families. Our foundation focuses on promotion
of education and contributes towards nutrition and health of children through its various
projects. These activities are mentioned in the 7th Schedule of the Companies Act, 2013 as
those that can be sponsored by the businesses to fulfil their CSR obligations. RCF is an entity
established under Section 8 of the Act, registered under section 12A and 80G of the Income
Tax Act, 1961. Hence, as mentioned in Rule 4 (1) of the CSR Policy Rules, 2014 which
provides the eligible entities, we can act as implementing agency for undertaking CSR
activities.

About Pratibha Poshak

https://www.pratibhaposhak.in

Pratibha Poshak is a project to identify highly talented children growing up in challenging

socio-economic circumstances, even from remote rural areas, and give them high quality online
education by digitally connecting them with creative and inspiring teachers, and caring
mentors.

A vast of number of children growing up in poverty, despite good abilities, cannot benefit from
online platforms as they lack the following:

• Awareness of their own strengths

• Motivation and career ambition
• Inspiring learning environment
• Language and comprehension skills
• Affordability of device (smartphone/pc) and network data

Therefore, teaching in local language (with a gradual transition to English) with relatable
examples, instilling a career dream, making them realize their own strengths, providing an
active learning environment where they get to interact with teachers and bright fellow students,
and enabling them with technology become essential. Two years of active online teaching is
required before they become self-learners and can make use of online learning platforms and
content.
Student demography
Students who have completed 8th grade (age 14-15) are enrolled in this programme. They
remain in the programme until they complete 12th grade (PUC-II) and enter university
education. Online subject classes and mentoring sessions are held for the first 2 years.
Mentoring sessions are conducted in the 3rd and 4th years and subscription to online learning
platforms for
Most of these students live in villages, small towns or in urban slums. They study in public,
vernacular medium schools. As of 2024 the program has 650+ students from seven districts of
Karnataka – Belagavi, Dharwad, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Gadag, Haveri and Uttara Kannada.

Student identification process

We use student performance data from the National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship
Examination (www.education.gov.in/en/nmms) conducted every year by the state government,
to create a shortlist of students. In the state of Karnataka, approximately 180,000 students
having a total family income of less than Rs. 3.5 lacs ($4200) per year, studying in public
(government run and government-aided) schools write this scholarship test. We shortlist the
top 4% of performers using a weighted-score that gives more credence to the
reasoning/quantitative skill test (MAT) versus the domain-specific test (SAT), and then invite
these students for our selection test conducted at various centres. On test day, a new concept is
taught and questions are asked that are designed to assess the ability to understand and apply
the concept to solve non-trivial and practical problems. About 10-12% of the students
appearing for the test qualify for the next round. Final selection happens after a telephonic
interview of students and parents, and home-visit for income verification (if necessary).

Figure 1 Process of selection

Selection Tests at Various Centres .
Technology Enablement

Selected students are given a good quality Tablet PC (Tab) with LTE/5G support, and Internet
data pack. During induction a workshop is conducted on using the device effectively and
coordinators are assigned to resolve technical difficulties. Tabs have strict parental controls
and can be used only for academic purpose with limits on screen-time.
What has been achieved so far?

Pratibha Poshak Cohort-1 (2022)

The project was launched in August 2022, onboarding 189 bright sparks identified from a
search space of nearly 25,000 students spread across Belagavi and Dharwad districts. Students
were grouped into six batches of 30-35 each. Each batch received weekly 12 hours of lessons
in Mathematics, Science, Practical English, and Analytical Skills by highly experienced
teachers. Students, in groups of ten, were also connected with mentors, successful professionals
and entrepreneurs interested to inspire and guide youngsters. Mentor interactions happen twice
a month. In-person experiential retreats (Pratibha Sammelans/Milaps) were held once every 4-
6 months. The attendance rate for daily classes as well as mentor meets and retreats has been
above 90%. Students report a high degree of satisfaction and usefulness from the program.

Figure 2 Student Details for Cohort 1 of Pratibha Poshak.

Pratibha Poshak Cohort-2 (2023)
Encouraged by the overwhelming response received from Cohort-1 students, their teachers,
and parents, in 2023 we extended Pratibha Poshak to 6 districts, adding Bagalkot, Gadag,
Haveri and Uttar Kannada. A crucial financial help for this came from Emergent Ventures,
George Mason University.
The statistics for Pratibha Poshak 2023 are as follows:
Number Number of
Number of Number of
of the Students
Students the schools Selected launch
SI No. PP TEST PLACE Dates schools who
called for present for Students Dates
called for attended
Exam the exam
exam

1 BELAGAVI CITY 22/05/23 88 27 78 22 20

15/07/23

2 BELAGAVI RURAL 23/05/23 53 30 39 19 6

15/07/23

3 RAMDURG 26/5/23 80 20 73 15 18
15/07/23

4 BAILHONGAL - SAUDATTI 4/6/2023 75 41 57 31 5

15/07/23

5 HUKKERI 28/05/2023 58 32 42 19 13
15/07/23

6 GOKAK - MUDALAGI 3/6/2023 91 40 103 37 16

15/07/23
CHIKKODI - ATHANI -
7 11/6/2023 86 58 44 21 12
KAGWAD 15/07/23
DHARWAD - DHARWAD
8 10/6/2023 120 41 167 26 28
CITY 2/8/2023
HDMC - HUBLI -
9 11/6/2023 91 47 38 13 10
KALGHATAGI - NAVALGUND 2/8/2023

10 JAMAKHANDI, MUDHOL 160 53 117 27 34

17/06/2023 30/08/23
BAGALKOT, BILAGI,
11 66 30 38 12 23
BADAMI, HUNAGD 18/06/2023 30/08/23

12 GADAG 28/06/2023 137 57 55 18 11

2/8/2023

13 HONNAVAR 22/06/2023 115 32 65 65 9

23/09/23

14 ANKOLA 23/06/2023 80 35 20 11 5
23/09/23

15 HAVERI 28/08/2023 182 106 178 104 13

16/09/23

16 BHATKAL 22/09/23 45 13 46 13 6
23/09/23

17 KUMTA 22/09/23 41 16 42 16 7 23/09/23

Total 1568 678 1202 469 236

Figure 3 Student Details for Cohort 2 of Pratibha Poshak

Figure 4 Talent Search Space for Pratibha Poshak 2023

Pratibha Poshak Cohort-3 (2024)
In 2024, we extended the program to 7 districts by adding the Vijayapura district. We selected
a total of 236 students from a search space of 60,000+ students who wrote the National Means
cum Merit Scholarship Examination. A total of 22 selection tests were held at different places.

Experiential Learning at Pratibha Poshak

Periodic face-to-face gatherings are a must to maintain the effectiveness of online teaching for
young kids. Pratibha Sammelan is where students, teachers, mentors and organizers of Pratibha
Poshak get together for face-to-face interactions and group activities spread over two days.
These events help students bond well with each other, and with their teachers and mentors.
Pratibha Milap is a one-day experiential learning workshop for the students.
So far 15 Pratibha Sammelans and Milaps have been conducted. As a part of these events,
students have experienced great places of learning, which include Visvesvaraya Industrial &
Technological Museum in Bengaluru, General Thimayya National Academy of Adventure in
Badami, INS Kadamba (Naval Base) in Karwar, University of Agricultural Sciences and the
Regional Science Centre in Dharwad among others.
PRATIBHA POSHAK PROCESS AT A GLANCE

Our Asks:
The cost of supporting one student for a period of 4 years is Rs.68,000 (USD 830).
Cost Breakup:
• Tablet PC with LTE/5G support: Rs. 19k + Internet Data (1.5 GB/day): Rs.4k (~35%)

• Teacher salaries: Rs.28k (~40%)

• Experiential Learning Retreats (in-person meets): Rs. 10k (~15%)

• Talent Search, Admin and Software Costs: Rs.7k (~10%)

In 2025 we plan to select at least 400 students as our Cohort-4. We are therefore making an
appeal to the CSR heads and donors to contribute to this cause of nurturing talent at the
bottom of the pyramid.

Warm Regards,

Dr. Ravindra Guravannavar, M.Tech., Ph.D. (IIT Bombay) Dr. Shashikant Kulgod, MS, FRCS (Ed)(Glasg)
Co-founder, Pratibha Poshak Director, Rajalakshmi Children Foundation
Email – [email protected] Email – [email protected]
Mob- 9632263593 Mob- 9480188790