My name is Dr Shradha Vasisht. I am a positive and self-motivated female who firmly believes that an investment in education pays the highest return. I was good at studies since my childhood. I completed B.El.Ed. course from Gargi college, MA (sociology) from Delhi School of Economics, M.Ed., M.Phil. & Ph.D. from Jamia Millia Islamia and cracked the UGC-NET-JRF exam. When I decided to work, I got the best jobs for example Assistant Professor in Delhi University and National Training Head in a famous NGO.
I also got lot of opportunities to travel to various Naxalite and interior parts of our country during my work which completely changed my perspective towards life. I still remember one incident when I was in Pakur (Jharkhand), a Naxalite area where people hardly go. I took off my high heel sandals while going inside the training centre and when I came back, I saw a group of students giggling like they had never seen such footwear earlier. When I interacted with them, they pointed towards the mineral bottle that I was holding and asked- “Yeh apke shahar mei paise ki milti hai kya?”. I was stunned to realize that they were unaware of the lifestyle which is very common to city life like mineral water, packaged food, mobile games, internet and so on. However, what made me smile was that they wanted to be educated. “Hum padhna chahte hai”, “Padhenge tabhi to buddhi aayegi”, “Main bade school mei padna chahta hu”. I got a chance to speak with a number of parents who wanted to send their children to good schools but had little awareness about the schools’ admission process, monetary benefits by Government for educating kids, various schemes by Government etc.
While my travel to Nuh (Mewat), an area which is hardly 50km away from the National Capital but 50 years behind it, I remember I did not even see a single girl who was older than 15 years and unmarried. When I met a few girls, they told me that they had never seen any female going to college or working in office. While interacting with their parents, almost every mother said that they want their daughters to get a chance to study at least till class 10 but were helpless. There were very few fathers who also said that they wanted their daughters to study and would love to see them as teachers but had scarcity of money. All this made me realize that it’s high time to create awareness regarding education, Government schemes, educational opportunities etc. I wanted to do something worthwhile for the society and my thinking gave birth to the educational initiative SabkiShiksha. Starting SabkiShiksha meant that I had to get away from my highly paying lucrative career which would affect my earning, savings and ultimately my family life. But my urge to serve the society was so much that I started considering everything else secondary.
So, in 2018, I started a YouTube channel named SabkiShiksha. I provided information on school admissions like Kendriya Vidyalaya, Private Schools of Delhi, School of Excellence, Sarvodaya Schools, various Government schemes like Ladli Scheme, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, social issues like women education etc. I worked hard, conveyed relevant information in simple language, replied to all the questions asked by the subscribers and soon SabkiShiksha reached every city, town & village. A channel which I started to help others became a hit and even Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Mr Manish Sisodia praised the work. In a very short span of time, SabkiShiksha made great achievements. SabkiShiksha received the Silver Play button from YouTube and now has a subscriber base of 1.41 lacs with 1 million views per month. The work of SabkiShiksha was recognised and appreciated by Aakashwani (AIR). I was recognised as a Women Achiever and my interview was broadcasted all over India. I also received the award of Most Influential Educationist by National Excellence Awards.
I am glad that I have proved all those who think that a young mother cannot start an educational initiative all alone wrong and even those who believe that if one has a good educational qualification, then job is the only option, nothing else. Today, I am at a stage where there is contentment and peace. I receive so many blessings every day in the form of comments by my subscribers which makes me realise that no work is better than working for others.
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