Communication is what carries many people around the world through an illustrious career and is the centre of many jobs across India. We believe that communication impacts one's life experiences and development. Although India carries the heritage of many culturally diverse languages, English as a global language seems to be able to push forward careers and unlock opportunities for thousands in this country. An essential part of our goal is to connect with government schools/low-income private schools and community centers to allow this range of students to have opportunities.
Bearing this in mind, we created Sukha Education Foundation with one simple goal, to teach communicative English through creative ways and bridge the gap between education and employability. We teach all we can to empower people with the power to communicate.
We want our students to feel confident about their abilities and achievements and aware of the opportunities they have with their new skills. We want them to feel they can confidently speak and communicate in English after being mentored.
During the times of lockdown, we at Sukha Education Foundation continued to trudge forward by moving our classes online and reaching our students over online calls and sessions.We also hope to have them pass on their abilities to try and teach others in their community with the passion and drive they took to learning.
Overall, commitment is essential to us, as it gives the extra help to produce solutions. One of our aims is that students should understand that learning a new language, and especially a global language like English, can be empowering and enhancing. Learning is not something we should force; a little encouragement and support from a teacher can go a long way.
Taught over two cohorts (each cohort is 6 months) of students across Tamil Nadu and Kerala | Working with multiple volunteers across 5 vertices | Secured our first corporate trainings | Launched a new short term programme (Communication through the arts)
Sanjana and Kavya, together, taught a batch of students 8 together. Two months later registered an NGO under the name ‘Sukha’ meaning happiness (because that is how we feel, when we teach)
Sanjana reached out to Kavya to discuss the idea of working towards democratizing English language learning
Sanjana noticed that several staff members in professional settings were denied promotions, simply because of their inability to converse in English
Our Mission is to create a safe space for students to learn, feel empowered and grow. By providing students with the agency to be the most confident version of themselves possible, Sukha seeks to empower individuals to become their best.
Our Culture and the basis of our foundation are feedback from our students and their communication with us, which allows a comfortable feedback loop where we can aid students more efficiently. Kindness is crucial as it creates a much better learning atmosphere to build connections between teacher and studen.
Krishnan is a Finance and Strategy Professional with significant experience in the fields of Strategic Planning and Risk Management.
He is currently is spearheading strategy and heads the asset management in India’s leading privately held Infra-Logistics firm, which has assets of over $1 billion. He also is an Investor and Board Member across Publicly Listed, and Privately held entities that have a Global Presence.
Krishnan is a pro-bono Advisor to both NSRCEL, and the Goldman Sachs 10K Women Programme, and has given numerous talks on Valuations.
Krishnan is an undergraduate of BITS (Pilani) India, a postgraduate alumni of MIT-Sloan School of Management (Massachusetts, CA) and a Certified Accounting (IFRS) Specialist
Head – Teaching and Training, Hindu STEP
Vijaya has experience in customer service, event management and marketing but specializes in developing and conducting training programs and workshops. She has conducted a variety of workshops/training programs for children, young adults and adults on topics ranging from business communication to train-the-trainer programs for organisations such as Cambridge English Language Assessment, British Council, Times of India etc. She has authored 4 children books and written articles for general interest magazines and English language publications.
Vijaya worked with Cambridge English Language Assessment (part of the University of Cambridge) for 7 years with her last role being the lead on Assessment Services for the Central region (South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Russia). Her role involved a range of academic/assessment related functions ranging from developing and managing the trainer network and curriculum development to supporting projects and building academic credibility in the region
She achieved the elusive ‘A’ grade on the Certificate for English Language Teaching for Adults (CELTA) course at the British Council, Dubai (certification from the University of Cambridge) and has also completed her second master’s in Training and Development from the University of New England.
Vijaya is currently the head of Teaching and Training at the Hindu STEP and manages both the online content and the face-to-face training departments. She oversees all training, learning and testing initiatives including online learning content, live online classes, the STEP test and face-to-face training for a variety of audiences including young children, college students, teachers and corporates.
The idea of starting Sukha came from noticing an ever-widening education gap that currently exists in our society- Several talented and brilliant people I knew were being denied employment, promotions, and leadership roles due to their inability to converse in English simply.
Starting Sukha would be my first step in paying forward the kindness and opportunity shown to me. I seek to provide our students with the agency of English as a tool to achieve their personal goals. My principle as a teacher is that I enable students to see their best potential and push them to see their own brilliance, reminding them that they have nothing to be afraid of. Hopefully, my students will impact many more lives directly or indirectly.
I feel the role of a teacher is an extension of the term "student". You are constantly learning and evolving. The idea of wanting to get into the education space found a place in my heart during my final year of college
I've had no formal training apart from my stint with the Teach For India fellowship. But I'd like to believe that my theatre background helped me with the process. There are a lot of parallels one can draw between teaching and theatre. Both are performance-related, with impromptu situations thrown at you every step of the way. It's all about adapting and accepting that there's more to learn.
Sukha, I believe, is just that. It's about pushing yourself both as a student and a teacher. Make yourself a little more when you feel like you've reached the point of "I can't do anymore" and find comfort in doing so.