A chance meeting with a boy Vinod who was selling incense sticks for a living got Sriram V Ayer thinking. It was also a time when the Gujarat riots happened and a sense of sombre engulfed the air. Sriram had a cushy job but there was something that was eating into him. He decided to do his bit and that is how NalandaWay was born in the year 2003.
His past experience proved that for most children, the teaching-learning experience had been lacklustre and boring. Teachers dispensed facts monotonously, and were, for the most part, rude and inconsiderate. Moreover, they felt like they had no incentive to learn and educate themselves.
Ayer wanted his foundation to tackle this inherent disinterest in children toward education. He wanted to build a foundation that reignites the passion for learning in children and he found it in arts. Hence, he decided that Nalandaway would incorporate ATA – Achieving Through Arts. It teaches students art forms like photography, theatre, creative writing, dance, storytelling, music, films, etc. The importance of arts, that NEP talks about in 2020, Ayer anticipated decades prior.
His vision was a success and Nalandaway, today, has touched the lives of over ten million students from lower income groups and victims of disasters, violence, HIV, child labour and human trafficking across Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, and Bihar. The impact of Ayer’s efforts can already be seen today. Vinod, who was Ayer’s initial muse for this behemoth task, is currently gainfully employed at a firm in Chennai.
Ayer has received countless awards from notable institutions for his endeavours. He was a recipient of the Development Marketplace award by the World Bank, the Architect of the Future award by Waldzell Institute, Vienna, and the Millenium Award for Innovation in Education by USAID and FICCI. He is also an Ashoka Fellow and he was named by Outlook Business as one of the top 50 Social Entrepreneurs. He has also penned a critically acclaimed book called “The Story of a Suicide.”
He wanted to build a foundation that reignites the passion for learning in children and he found it in arts
