Parth Phalke, the key person of Srot Rural Education and Development Foundation, started teaching in 2007 at a large coaching establishment in Mumbai. However, he realized that primary education is all about training for examinations. Most of the coaching classes don’t pay lip service to education, especially at the school level. He solely dislikes teaching students only for exams, and this feeling boosts him to upgrade his classroom skills.  He applied to KFI (Krishnamurty Foundation India) schools for teaching and was selected to work at Sahyadri School, KFI, near Pune. He gained excellent experience while teaching at Sahyadri School in 2009, and the school authority gave him the opportunity to test his unique ideas of education and engage with other like-minded people. He participated in various extracurricular activities that the school offered to the students.

He took part in the sports programme and music programme of the school. He got the opportunity to experiment with teaching techniques. The school authority allowed him to teach Marathi as a third language through theatre. He worked at Sahyadri School, KFI, from 2009-13 and again from 2015-19.

He also worked at Coveda, another alternative education establishment in Chandigarh, for one year.  Parth Phalke arrived in Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh, in Sept 2020 after coming in contact with Mr Panki Sood during the COVID-19 pandemic.  He has been in Tirthan Valley for the last four years and has been working with local students. 

Besides, Parth Phalke has been independently conducting a workshop for youngsters from the age of 13 to 25 for the last two years. This programme is called the ‘Young Wanderers Programme’. This workshop focuses on the important life skills that formal education seems to neglect.

Formation of Srot Rural Education and Development Foundation and its journey to date

Srot Rural Education and Development Foundation was registered as a Sec-8 company (not-for-profit) in December 2021.  At present, the organization has 3 local centres and a total of 6 staff, out of which 4 are local teachers. The Co-Founder, Director of the organization is Parth Phalke. The recent student strength is 70. The organization has recently collaborated successfully with a local school and introduced the students and teachers to alternative ways of teaching and learning. 

Inspiration 

Parth Phalke got the inspiration to establish his own teaching organization while working in formal schools and other places from 2007-2019. He felt that education focuses too heavily on livelihood while neglecting other aspects of life. During his work, he realized that access to quality academic education is often unfortunately restricted to those who can pay. He also observed that regular schools which cater to the subordinate and intermediate income groups fail to include some of the alternative ideas and methods that don’t demand financial resources. 

Parth Phalke noticed that most schools and educational institutions provide only training in maths, language, sciences, and so on. However, they completely neglect what individuals need to learn in order to be happy. This scenario inspired him to think differently and establish his own organization. 

Sort- What does it do?

A group of passionate volunteers from Himalayan volunteer tourism (HvT) Facebook page joined together and established Srot in July 2020. The aim of Srot is to help students in Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh by offering academic support. At present the organization is working on two projects- After-school support programme and Padhte Raho. 

The organization 

• Conducted several workshops in fields ranging from Arts, Dental hygiene, Mathematics, Puzzles, and Robotics.
• Provided art and craft materials to encourage children to let loose their creativity.
• Counselled the older children about education and career pathways.
• Set up small libraries in the homes of the children. After all, learning begins at home.
• Provided academic support wherever needed.
• More importantly, we were able to build joyful relationships with the children and their families.

Specific challenge or setback

One big challenge that Srot is facing while running the not-for-profit is finding suitable teachers who support Srot’s ideas of education. The education landscape in India is filled with teachers who became teachers by accident or because they did not know what else to do. Many of them still do pretty good work and work sincerely, but many clearly don’t. So finding the right teacher is the big challenge for Srot. So, the authority has decided to find people willing enough to learn about education and teaching-learning and train them to work with students according to Srot’s teaching system. 

The organization also faced challenges with the Young Wanderers programme. Here, the organization faced the challenge. People, even today, seem to believe that learning to live life happens by and by, and one need not really think about it much. So, the prime focus of education in recent times is to earn a living status. 

Leadership Qualities

As per Parth Phalke, a good leader has to be a good listener. A leader has to know what his team is experiencing and what they feel and think about that experience. A leader should possess the ability to recognize one’s own strengths and weaknesses. They must have the ability to confess an error or to distinguish someone else’s brilliance and still set a high benchmark for performance through their own conduct. Here he believes that leadership is only about results because terrible people in leadership positions can also get results.

A leader must also lead by example and exhibit the dedication that they expect from their teams. People respect those leaders who can walk the talk, and not having the respect of their team can spell doom for a leader or his organization. 

Key challenges and opportunities facing your industry today

The challenge that Srot faces is how to permit people to make the decision to explore alteration because we can help once they choose to do that. So, the biggest challenge that Srot Foundation, as well as the Young Wanderers programme, faces is to give parents and youngsters the confidence to look at education and life differently.

But, beside the challenges, opportunities, of course, are there. Today, many individuals understand that something is not right with education as it is because their lives aren’t going anywhere. Many youngsters recognize that they don’t seem to have the skills to face life, and their vocational skills don’t help in that area. This presents an enormous chance to have a big impact over time. 

Specific accomplishment or milestone in the entire professional journey

After facing loads of difficulties and challenges, parents and children have shown huge trust on both Srot as well as the Young Wanderers programme. This has helped the organization to make enough decisions and support us in that journey; it is a great achievement. This has enabled the organization to work with over 500 students in the last three years already. 

Sort- Future and long-term goals

The long-term goal for the Srot Foundation is to spread awareness about education across Himachal Pradesh and beyond through varied workshops with teachers and our direct interventions with students.

Parth Phalke wishes to The Young Wanderers Programme to become one of the most credible programmes for youngsters in the country. He is confident about the growth of the program and there is growing demand which needs to be tapped.   

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