Meet and greet Tarak Goradia June 3rd, 2023

 

Attendees: Venkata, Rohan, Vivek, Tarak, Shishir, Himanshu, Shravani, Om.

1. It was an amazing experience to listen to the life story of Tarak and his passion towards education. Tarak has now wrapped up his business and dedicated his whole life for education, shuttling betweek Bengaluru and Delhi. Proof is in the pudding and it has been proven many times when US First Lady Milania Trump visited a Happiness Curriculum class in Delhi Govt school or in front page article by NYTimes or mention by many national/international news-paper/magazines, curriculum experts.
2. Delhi Board of School Education (DBSE) has given liberty to policy makers like Tarak to impart experiencial and enquiry based learning (EEBL) rather than rote learning. Rote learning focuses on preparing students to answer a the set of exam questions and get good grades. On the other hand, enquiry-based learning focuses on skill building and prepare students to solve real world problems.
3. For last 5+ years, Tarak have been working on curriculum needs and objectives for Delhi Govt schools. 
1. Happiness Curiculum: make student stress-free and confident by Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Functional in 1000+ Delhi Govt schools.
2. Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum: EMC, enable a student take charge of her/his career. The EMC is about teaching students on 'design approach' with research, ideation, design, solution-possibilities, pilot (or POC), validation (feedback). This all is taught by experince and not just 'lecturing' ( :-) ). Functional in 1000+ Delhi Govt schools.
3. EMDD: Pilot stage. He is working on his new initiative EMDD (Entrepreneurship Mindset Design using Digital tools) where modern generation computer tools are used by students to do text/audio/vidual projects.
4. The Star-Tarak Story:
1. Tarak bhai narrated how a Gujrati kid from Mumbai chawl got 89th rank in IIT. After BTech he went for masters and PhD in US and ended up working in 'ivory' tower jobs in US. 
2. He went on to say how sometimes life unfolds the unknowns and shocks you. Things changed when one day druing a presentation in his office, he lost vision in his left eye. Subsequent discovery of a brain tumor and successful surgery in NYC. Unfortunatly, vision in the left eye coudln't be restored. This episode literally made Tarak to take a pause and rethink the purpose of life. Goradia family left for India, and Tarak started working in a startup. Tarak realized the difference of working in a startup v/s a large corporate and how it opens the door for learning and personal growth. 
3. Toastmasters helped Tarak conquer stammering in his speech and showed the importance of communication. In their Bengaluru residential community, Tarak and his son opened a club for youth. The benefits gained by students prompted Tarak to find ways to extend his program and benefit larger set of kids. Tarak got directed to Atishi (Delhi AAP MLA) who instantly invited him to do a pilot in Delhi Govt schools. Rest is the history.
5. Take aways for NJ: Involve the like minded. Folks in NJ can take initiative in few ways:
1. Present the delhi governance model in such a way to attract like minded folks and have their skills contribute for better India.
2. Find out if we can get tasks from India and have NJ folks contribute .
3. Rohan shared his experience of helping to-be-graduating college students with mock interviews.
4. Motivate individuals to donate for AAP in India.