IIM grad's education portal seeks to solve e-learning issues through experiential learning

Hyderabad: E-learning, one would have to say is the need of the decade. While the concept of e-learning has been making its way to mainstream since 2016, the advent of COVID-19 and the subsequent need for social distancing has only propelled e-learning to an all-new level. One argument that has always been used against e-learning is the negative impact it could have on the interest of students, considering the fact that most online portals use animated science experiments to teach students, which, without a doubt is miles apart from the students getting a chance to witness the experience live and the learning from it.

Manish Kumar, a 33-year-old teacher turned entrepreneur, who is an alumnus of prestigious universities like IIT Kharagpur and IIM Bangalore, has set out to solve this very problem through his initiative, the Curious Minds institute.

Manish, who has 12 patents filed in his name for various inventions has substituted the digital animated forms of experiments with live demonstrations of various scientific procedures on his platform, with an aim to invoke the curiosity of students in a far more effective way. The USP of his methods is that the experiments he is trying to show children through his portal can be easily replicated using household appliances or household items.

Another con that e-learning always had to battle is the psychological impact on a student when teaching is limited to just an online room. Curious Minds Institute solves this problem as well. As the name suggests, special emphasis is laid on the mental health of the students, and steps are taken to instill a sense of interest among them rather than trying to bombard students with information he or she isn't interested in.

When asked about what made Manish quit a comfortable MNC job to start Curious Minds Manish said, "After entering the professional circuit post-graduation, I came across a lot of individuals who are limiting themselves to just memorising textbooks in school only to face massive hurdles a decade later once they become professionals. There's a lot more, over and above the prescribed syllabus that one needs to be taught to make a mark in this highly competitive world. I felt the need to change the way we are imparting knowledge and the way we are teaching children to become machines that can memorize thousands of pages without even understanding the logic behind it. Therefore, I decided to quit the MNC job and start Curious Minds."

"Under our programme, LEAP, we wish to educate hardworking students using various experiential learning methods. People have been talking about experiential learning for quite some time now but I see that no concrete steps have been taken to make it mainstream. All we need is the student spending 5 to 6 hours a week for classes and we believe it will definitely make a mark on their learning abilities," he added.