In the 2009 PISA test, India ranked 72nd out of the 73 participating countries. Every year ASER report highlights the poor state of education in India. Although India has been able to get almost every child into school, that has not necessarily translated into learning. Improving learning outcomes by overcoming rote learning is the need of the hour. Technology can be the fulcrum that we can leverage to solve the current problems of varying learning levels in the classroom and getting them to learn.

Today I talk to Pranav Kothari, Vice President of Educational Initiatives. In this episode, we talk about Pranav's personal journey from Harvard Business School into the education sector, the organisation's work in developing high-quality assessments; and the role of personalised learning in shaping education reform. The company developed Mindspark, a technology-based, personalized, adaptive learning tool that draws on a database of questions and answers to anticipate common mistakes.

If you look at the statistics, the extent of disparity in credit in our country is seemingly unbelievable.

The rural population comprising 60% of the total population makes up for only 2.3% of the total credit. Credit plays an important role in everyones life and helps us to progress to next big thing. Banks generally doesn’t give loans to poor households and government schemes are not helping to bridge this credit gap.

Of course, there are various factors - both qualitative and quantitative that are responsible for this.

So this is where micro finance institutions come into picture, they provide micro loans to poor and provide access to credit for poor households.

How micro finance institutions do this?

Strong community engagement

Personal agency

Focused discussion groups to help people improve their businesses

I talked to Sushil Thaker, the Vice President of Avanti Finance on my podcast (link in the comments) to better understand how #microfinance institutions function on a deeper level, how they sustain themselves and much more.

If you want to understand macro, there’s no way you can do so without understanding micro.

Do check it out for some really valuable insights that might help you in your pursuit of entrepreneurship.

Also check out,

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/microfinance.asp

Microcredit was a hugely hyped solution to global poverty. What happened?: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/15/18182167/microcredit-microfinance-poverty-grameen-bank-yunus

Challenges faced by Microfinance Institutions ; https://www.nelito.com/blog/challenges-faced-microfinance-institutions.html

Advantages and Disadvantages of Microfinance Companies : https://enterslice.com/learning/advantages-disadvantages-microfinance-companies/

What is microfinance and how it changed the world: https://www.lifegate.com/microfinance

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We all agree to the fact that there is something wrong with the education system. Even I feel the same but I really do not what exactly is wrong with it. I was exploring this question from some time. In the process of exploring this question, I got to know about KB Jinan. KB Jinan has been exploring biological roots of learning from past 30 years and has been vocal about how modern education damages child’s brain and originality. He also has been researching about how to rediscover reimagine education paradigm from teaching to learning. I enjoyed talking to him and I hope you guys too.

Also check out,

www.jinankb.in

https://existentialknowledgefoundation.org/people.html

KB Jinan's Reflections: http://www.swaraj.org/shikshantar/lsreflections_jinan.htm

De- Academizing Knowledge and De- Institutionalising Learning : Webinar with KB Jinan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK38ZjQVaA4

Modern Toys kill the imagination by Jinan KB | Simple Parenting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCKKv-54n7s

Re imagining learning, knowing, Being: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aek6X_2K2g

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There are lot of non profits and NGOs work in education sector. Majority of them work in areas like teacher training, curriculum building, parent engagement but a vey few them work towards bringing back play to school. These days play in playgrounds has become a rare reality. Today, I talk to Pooja Rai of Anthill Creations, an organisation which is working towards solving this problem by building playgrounds in schools and communities. Anthill Creations is a not for profit organisation which aims to bring back play for all age groups by building sustainable playscapes, using contextual designs and localized resources and encouraging community participation. Also check out, https://anthillcreations.org/ How 5 IIT graduates are changing the way slum kids play : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/how-5-iit-graduates-are-changing-the-way-slum-kids-play/articleshow/58979866.cms?from=mdr Old tyres get a second run in playgrounds : https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/business-of-life/old-tyres-get-a-second-run-in-playgrounds-1556785122060.html Like them on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/anthillcreations If you have any feedback or comments, write in to reinventpodcast@gmail.com, we would love to hear from you. Follow Reinvent Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinventpodcast/?hl=en Follow Reinvent Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reinvent-Podcast-103243901421217/ Subscribe & listen to The Reinvent Podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts and in all other major podcasting apps.

We all know about the state of media in our country. In the time of messy news debates and senseless sensationalism, there are very few independent news websites and youtube channels that are trying to play a fair game to provide the right information,facts and analysis. Today we talk to someone who belong this small group but does things diffetenrtly, he is a political satirist. Hold on your questions there and start listening the podcast. Akash Banerjee, founder and host of India's biggest Political Satire platform, The Deshbhakt joins Pranay to talk about political satire, the process of using satire to make a point and the future of political satire in India. Subscribe to The Deshbhakt: https://www.youtube.com/user/akashban Available on major podcasting apps. Subscribe and share it with your friends. Like and Follow us on  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reinvent-Podcast-103243901421217 Twitter : https://www.twitter.com/DASARIKRISHNAP3 Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/reinventpodcast

The condition of the Indian government schools is pathetic. A lot of us have the privilege to not go to government schools but unfortunately, 65% of all school-going children continue to get their education from government schools. It is high time we start looking into changing these sub standard schools and make sure every one in the country gets proper education. Today, we talk to Mainak Roy, founder and Ceo of Simple Education Foundation about how they are transforming government schools. Lets find out more about their work Also Check it out: https://simpleeducationfoundation.org/ This Organisation In Delhi Is Changing The Face Of Public Education For The Underprivileged :https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2018/06/my-story-of-inspiration/ Teaching: A Two Way Street | Mainak Roy | TEDxBDSIS : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9-yZHaUJow&t=644s Available on major podcasting apps. Subscribe and share it with your friends. Like and Follow us on  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reinvent-Podcast-103243901421217 Twitter : https://www.twitter.com/DASARIKRISHNAP3 Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/reinventpodcast

We all agree to the fact that there is something wrong about the education system but only few of us try to solve the problem. Today I talk to Abhijit Sinha who recognised that there something wrong and acting towards making things right. He is in a journey to create a alternative education paradigm. Abhijit Sinha is founder and CEO of Project Defy. Project DEFY is challenging conventional mainstream education, and enabling communities around the world to create their own self-learning spaces called Nooks, where each individual can design their own education. Also Check out, https://projectdefy.org/ Do You Think Children are Stupid? | Abhijit Sinha | TEDxChennai : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4y04sHXeDs The New Education System of India | Abhijit Sinha | Founder, Project DEFY | SEEtalks 2016 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ybVPkpBzqM How can you build a community culture of self learning? : https://hundred.org/en/innovations/project-defy-design-education-for-yourself Defying all odds: The story of a maker school in Karnataka with no teachers : https://yourstory.com/2016/04/maker-school-karnataka-banjarapalya-project-defy/ Project Defy or how a 500$ makerspace can revolutionize education? : https://medium.com/@MakerTour/project-defy-or-how-a-500-makerspace-can-revolutionize-education-3dddbbe05d20 One Man Is Creating Classrooms without Teachers. And Turning the Kids into Tinkerers! : https://www.thebetterindia.com/46008/schools-without-teachers-project-defy-bengaluru-banjarapalya/ Follow Reinvent Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinventpodcast/?hl=en Follow Reinvent Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reinvent-Podcast-103243901421217/ Subscribe & listen to The Reinvent Podcast on Spotify, JioSaavn and in all other major podcasting apps.

Design thinking has been happening for decades now. Wouldn't it be interesting if children involve in this? When children engage in identifying real-world challenges. When they empathise, talk to real users, and get to the root of the issue; they start getting closer to implementing innovative solutions for their community. Today, I speak to Shreyas Prakash Nair who is doing great work to create a movement of young leaders to equip them with the right attitude to solve problems of the community.  Shreyas is the founder and director of the organisation, D hive labs and currently pursuing Masters at TU Delft University in Industrial Designing. D Hive has been named as one of the 100 most innovate organisations by HundrEd. Now he also serves as an advisory board member to select 100 organisations for the year 2020.  Also check out,  https://dhivelabs.org/what-we-do/  DHive: How a community-driven rural design studio building leaders of tomorrow in remote villages of India : https://www.theoptimistcitizen.com/dhive/  How do we involve children in entrepreneurship? : https://medium.com/dhive-rural-design-studio/how-do-we-involve-children-in-entrepreneurship-f0c117432dda  How rural children could lead as social innovators | Shreyas Prakash | SEETalks : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnknxLRqz7k  Dhive innovations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrNyWU6rAK4zdnnBBHpDcpQ  Dhive labs Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/pg/dhivelabs/posts/  If you have any feedback or comments, write into reinventpodcast@gmail.com, we would love to hear from you. Follow Reinvent Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reinventpodcast/?hl=en Follow Reinvent Podcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reinvent-Podcast-103243901421217/ Subscribe & listen to The Reinvent Podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and in all other major podcasting apps.