Adarsh Choudhary is addressing educational inequality locally and globally
Hailing from a small village in Bihar, India, Adarsh Choudhary grew up intimately aware of the educational challenges faced by students from low-income communities, particularly in rural areas. Reflecting on his own schooling he says,
“During my school years, I encountered many difficulties because of systemic and design level challenges which resulted in a low-quality education.”
Adarsh observed how the current system of education doesn’t provide individual attention and focuses more on a worker mindset and rote learning, which causes many students to not engage in education and drop out of school.
Not content to sit on the sidelines, Adarsh embarked on an entrepreneurial journey to help more students access a quality education. Aided by leadership programs at Rise and Global Citizen Year Academy, Adarsh took a two-pronged approach to create impact both at a global scale online and in his local community.
“Today,” he says, “I am part of a leadership community and I am able to share my journey and express my identity, experiences, values, and purpose.”
A global initiative: Using blockchain technology as a force for good
Adarsh viewed entrepreneurship as an avenue to help students, from low-income families, access education. He decided to take a gap year in order to explore this opportunity for impact, develop his leadership skills, and make new connections. This quest led him to Rise.
Rise, an initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, is a program that finds brilliant young people who need opportunity and supports them for life as they work to serve others. Adarsh applied to Rise and was selected as a finalist.
Through the Rise community, Adarsh connected for the first time with students from outside of India. He strengthened his changemaking skills and began to explore how technology could help to bridge the gaps in educational inequality. With the support from Civics Unplugged, Adarsh is a contributinf founder of Dream Dao, an educational platform that uses blockchain technology (also known as web3) to develop civic innovators who can leverage the power of blockchain for good.
In their launch announcement, Adarsh and the Dream Dao team describe how they aim to offer world-class educational experiences that will provide “diverse Gen Zers around the globe with the training, funding, and community they need to leverage the power of web3 to secure a brighter future for humanity.”
Local impact: Improving educational resources in his own community
Adarsh continued his impact journey by joining Global Citizen Year Academy, where he connected with young changemakers across the world and further honed his leadership skills. The culmination of his Academy experience was designing a data-driven social impact project in his home community. After working toward educational equality in a global and virtual way with Dream Dao, Adarsh was excited to see what local solutions he could develop.
Through the Academy, Adarsh learned about key social change principles including root cause analysis, systems of oppression, and asset-based community development. All this informed his social impact project which is now becoming a reality!
Together with local teachers he recruited, Adarsh is mobilizing resources to create ‘The Learning Space’ where students can access educational resources, including books and regional language support, based on their needs. Each student will receive a customized learning plan based on their learning level and their pace of understanding.
Reflecting on his hopes for the project, Adarsh says, “The Learning Space will promote the values of compassion, integrity, empathy, individuality, and equity.”
Without leaving his small village, Adarsh has traveled a great distance on his journey to improve educational equality. From never interacting with a person outside of India, he’s now connected to a diverse network of young changemakers across the globe. From his own disappointment with the educational paradigm, he’s created both global and local resources for students to receive a better education.
