U n’ I with Rashmi Shetty- Season 2- Ashok Kamath

Our guest today is Ashok Kamath- an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT Bombay). He was formerly the Managing Director of the Indian operations of Analog Devices, a major global semiconductor company. Ashok attributes a large part of his success to the fact that he was privileged enough to receive a quality education from a young age. The well-balanced foundational education he received gave him strong mathematical ability and enabled him to get into great universities and excel further. However, he saw that this opportunity to access quality education for younger grades in school was not available for a majority of children in the country. During his time at IIT, Ashok’s education was made more affordable for him because the Government of India would subsidize the cost of training each student through the program. Ashok always saw this as a badge of honor and investment from his country.

So, in 2004, Ashok left his corporate career to pay back the ‘debt of honor’ he felt towards his country by empowering millions of children in the country that are denied the opportunities that he received. He immersed himself in solving the complex problems of the education sector in India and developed the idea of GKA in 2012, envisioning this model to function at a population scale. Since 2004, Ashok has not drawn a salary from Akshara

Foundation. And with a small team of 35, he is transforming learning for over 3 million children in India. The Ganitha Kalika Andolana (GKA) model, Akshara Foundation’s flagship initiative is aimed at revolutionizing math learning for grades 1 to 5 in government schools and is built around this core idea. GKA is a unique 360-degree model consisting of a comprehensive combination of interventions targeting multiple stakeholders at both the demand and supply side of the foundational education system including the state system, teachers, and the community.

In April 2019, he was conferred the prestigious Namma Bengaluru Award for exemplary work in education. His alma mater, IIT-Bombay, presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2013 for his various initiatives and contributions to the field of child education.

Listen in as Ashok Kamath shares this meaningful journey with The Akshara Foundation & the impact it is creating.

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