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Balaji Sampath

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Balaji Sampath
Born (1973-01-17) 17 January 1973 (age 51)
Chennai, India
NationalityIndian
Alma materIIT Madras,
University of Maryland, College Park, USA (PhD)
Occupation(s)Founder and Secretary, AID India & CEO of Ahaguru
Websitewww.ahaguru.com

Balaji Sampath (born 17 January 1973)[1] is an Indian educationist, scientist[2], and the founder and secretary of Association for India's Development - India chapter,[3][4] an India-based non-profit NGO that conducts science teaching and primary school programs for children to aid their educational development.[5] He is also the founder and CEO of Ahaguru, an educational online coaching startup that provides training courses on different subjects online.[6][7][8] He is also an author of science books for primary and higher level education.[2]

Personal life

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Balaji was born in Chennai, India on 17 January 1973 into a family where both of his parents were government workers.[1][9] Because his parents were often transferred to different locations for their government jobs, as a child Balaji was exposed to a number of schools across India. He had difficulty in understanding scientific subjects due to "ineffective teaching". Early in life, he devised his own system of analysis and arriving at solutions.[9]

Education

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Balaji appeared for IIT JEE and obtained All India Rank 4 in 1990,[10] considered one of the most difficult competitive exams in India. He completed his B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1994,[11][12] and his doctorate in Electronics and communication Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park.[12][13]

Career

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Balaji started his career as a volunteer for AID United States chapter from 1994 while he was doing his doctorate.[14] After completing his PhD degree, he returned to India to work full-time on social issues in 1997 and founded AID India.[1][15][16] He worked with the Centre for Ecology and Rural Development and the Peoples Science Movement on Health and Education Programs. Balaji organized Peoples Health assembly campaign in 2000 at a national level and began campaigning for better public education and access to healthcare, especially in the rural areas.[1]

AID India trains teachers in government schools with the goal of improving the quality of teaching, especially for science and mathematics by using innovative techniques and devising educational aid.[15] The mission of AID India is to empower socially disadvantaged sections of the society through socio-economic development programs, education, providing micro credit, and providing training in the areas of health, human rights and utilization of resources for income generation.[17]

In 2011, Balaji started Ahaguru.com, an online education portal to enhance science and math learning and problem-solving skills of middle and high school students. The startup, "a pioneer in online coaching", provides training courses completely online. It covers physics, chemistry and math for classes 7 to 12 for CBSE, NEET and JEE. The full year course is modelled like a classroom with teachers explaining concepts and showing how to solve different questions.[1][18][19][20]

Awards

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  • IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award 2012.[12]
  • Times of India Social Impact Award for AID, 2011 from Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2011.[21]
  • Ashoka Fellowship for innovative work on Science Education.[13]
  • Lemelson Inventor Certificate for Science Education.[12]
  • MIT Indus Technovator's Award 2005 for Village Libraries and Science Education.[22]
  • Rotary Distinguished Service Award by the Rotary Club of Madras South.[12]
  • Pratham USA Achievement Award 2006 for improving reading skills in Tamil Nadu.[12]
  • Association for India's Development JS Fellowship, 1998.[9]
  • All India Rank 4 in the IITJEE, 1990.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Dr. Balaji Sampath". ahaguru.academia.edu. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Our team | SODEWS". www.sodews.org. Archived from the original on 5 September 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Breaking the English Barrier". The Hindu. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  4. ^ "Event report: Making RTE Effective: Strategies, Constraints, Outcomes (includes video)". The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  5. ^ Anjali, Puri (18 September 2006). "The E-Street Entrepreneurs". Outlook. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  6. ^ Somu, Kumar. "AhaGuru.com: Education start-up's on-demand online coaching". Medium. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Tamasomaa Jyotirgamaya - From Darkness to Light - NGM". www.psbbschools.ac.in. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. ^ a b Ani (11 April 2017). "Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students". Business Standard India. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  9. ^ a b c "Eureka Child - An AID-India Education Initiative". www.eurekachildusa.org. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  10. ^ ANI (11 April 2017). "Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students". Business Standard India. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Eureka School - Where Every Child Matters". www.eurekaschool.org. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Citations: 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Awards Recipients | Office Of Alumni Relations". alumni.iitm.ac.in. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  13. ^ a b "Effective Education Initiatives for rural India - A talk by Dr. Balaji Sampath". allevents.in. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  14. ^ Umachandran, Shalini. "They live, work & prosper in foreign lands but sweat it out for India". Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  15. ^ a b Tully, Mark (2011). Non Stop India. Allen Lane, India: Penguin Group. p. 156. ISBN 9780670083893.
  16. ^ Rao, T.V (18 December 2015). Effective People. India: Random House India. ISBN 978-8184005837.
  17. ^ Dutta, Rita (August 2012). "Social Entrepreneurs: Transforming India". I Will Impact. 2: 16.
  18. ^ Ramya|, M (6 May 2014). "Only 2.5% of students in IIT race from TN". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  19. ^ "It's Payback Time". The Hindu. 9 May 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  20. ^ Ani (11 April 2017). "Education start-ups on-demand online coaching: New trend among high school students". Yahoo News. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  21. ^ "Social Impact Awards 2012-2013 - The Times of India". timessocialawards.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  22. ^ "Global Indus Technovator Awards". web.mit.edu. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
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