It’s a warm summer morning in Dushanbe as 21 year old Niqat Patel waits patiently at the helipad to board the chopper to Khorog. The ride from Dushanbe to Khorog is over 16 hours by road and is subject to landslides and other diversions. In comparison, the chopper service to Khorog is just over an hour of flying time and offers breath-taking views of the mountains. Yet both these journeys pale in comparison to the 9 month long journey that transplanted this young student from Pune, India to the heart of Gorno-Badakshan, for a two month summer placement with the University of Central Asia
The 9 month journey in question, refers to a unique long-term mentoring programme launched by the Aga Khan Education Board for India (AKEB,I) in June 2016. The programme, aptly titled, ‘Reach for the Stars’ (RFS) hand-picked 48 young Ismaili high-school and college students, from across India and paired them with Ismaili and non-Ismaili mentors from their field of study for a 9 month period. The objective was to provide exposure, confidence, conviction and clarity to students and to encourage the pursuit of high quality tertiary education. Each mentorship track was customized as far as possible to create access to experiences and people that were uniquely relevant to each student’s individual journey.
Niqat could not have found anyone more relevant than her mentor, Fatima Kassam. “I feel like I really connected with her when we met”, says Niqat, as we catch up on the phone. “Since then she’s practically adopted me”, she says, with a broad smile. Niqat joined the programme as a third year Environmental Sciences student with an interest in Disaster Risk Reduction. Shortly after joining the RFS programme, Niqat attended a “Fellowship Meet” organized specifically for RFS students with an interest in pursuing careers in the development sector. The event, held in Mumbai brought together fellows from India’s top fellowship programmes and invited, Fatima Kassam, Global Co-ordinator for Poverty Alleviation, LIF, as a guest speaker.
The chance meeting between Fatima and Niqat grew into a mentoring partnership that literally had Niqat scaling her own mountains. “I was really inspired when I attended this event”, says Fatima, as she recaps her mentoring experience. “When I was growing up there weren’t many role models except in common fields like banking and medicine. I wanted to provide for others, what I didn’t have. I believe that contextual learning is important but practical learning is absolutely crucial”, she adds.
This feature of practical learning has been core to the RFS programme and has been built in through access to exposure and immersion learning in the student’s chosen field of study. Take Rashmin Sorathiya for example. Rashmin, an architecture graduate from Hyderabad, entered the RFS programme with an interest in the concepts of building technology and energy efficient design. Her 9 month track paired her with two formidable architects, who offered support to Rashmin in her application essays and her portfolio reviews, as she applied for her Masters abroad. Nuru Karim, a pioneering Indian architect and Aftab Jalia, a PhD candidate at Cambridge, teamed up to ensure that Rashmin had access to their experience and vision as she advanced her Masters applications. Along the way, a unique partnership between the Council for India and the Council for Bangladesh, took her on a five day journey to Dhaka to interact with Marina Tabassum and Kashef Choudhary, two of the winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
“My trip to Dhaka was really the highlight of my RFS journey”, says Rashmin. “I feel so privileged because the exposure I received from this visit was something that very few people are fortunate to have. I met some really great architects who gave me a broader perspective of the kind of work I could get into”, she says.
And her story doesn’t end there. In early February when admissions decisions were released, Rashmin placed at two of the three schools she applied to (and landed a partial scholarship at one of them as well). She turned down both opportunities and instead became the first young Ismaili architect to land the prestigious Charles Correa Fellowship in Urban Design.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask, as we connect on the phone to discuss her decision. “Yes I am”, comes the quick response. “I think the experience will be valuable and having met the architects I have had exposure to, I know what the standard of excellence in my field looks like”.
Few things in India define the standard of excellence in education like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Admission to the IITs is a dream for an engineering enthusiast and access to IIT alumni can therefore be a powerful experience. Simply ask Amaan Verasiya, a young Mathematics and Engineering enthusiast from Amreli, in Southern Saurashtra. Amaan was fortunate to be paired by Rinkesh Virani, a recent alumni from IIT Madras. Amaan is currently pursuing his BSc in Mathematics in Ahmedabad. “Rinkesh really understood where I was coming from”, says Amaan. “He was from my field of interest and he understood my dreams. My conversations with him gave me a lot of clarity and also built my confidence”, he says. Rinkesh’s support has inspired Amaan to design his own educational videos and post them on You Tube. He is now working on authoring his own book on Mathematics.
For his mentor, Rinkesh, there has been a great sense of pride in seeing Amaan’s success and watching his transition from Amreli to Ahmedabad. “I always remind myself that whatever I made of myself was because of the support I had from the Jamat”, says Rinkesh. “I would like to do the same for others. Some of the suggestions I have given Amaan will take time to materialize, but I’m happy knowing that I have made the same kind of effort for him that others made for me”, he adds.
This unbroken cycle of wanting to give back is core to the success of any mentorship programme. “You have to give more than you take”, says Utkarsh Amitabh, the founder of a global mentoring platform, called Network Capital and a key collaborator for RFS. “When I started Network Capital it was with the intention to get the best people involved. I saw this in the Aga Khan initiative as well. Neither of our organizations can solve the world’s problems alone, we must come together to work towards change”, he emphasizes.
Utkarsh’s participation in RFS opened connections for several participants of the programme including arranging for an immersion learning visit to Ashoka University’s prestigious Young India Fellowship Programme (YIF) and personally interacting with several RFS students.
The programme has also been fortunate to draw on the tremendous expertise and strength of AKDN professionals. Tinni Sawhney, CEO of the AKF, Surekha Ghogale, CEO of AKAH and Apoorva Oza, CEO of AKRSP have all been mentors for the programme and their support and collaboration has opened up opportunities for visits to AKDN projects, internships with AKDN agencies and valuable connections in their field of work.
For each RFS student there is a story that is as unique as their interests. Nizar Mesani, a finance enthusiast landed an internship in equity research at Motilal Oswal thanks to his mentor Samir Mistry. He is now headed to Dubai for a fully funded career development programme hosted by Harvard University’s South Asia Research Centre. Shifa Thobani, an engineer with an interest in public health was mentored by Dr. Zahra Merchant, a public health specialist. Shifa has now become the first Indian Ismaili to be selected for the prestigious SBI Youth for India Fellowship Programme. Neha Hemdani, an aspiring Chartered Accountant from Porbander has moved to Ahmedabad to prepare for her CA exam. Noorain Panjwani’s “start up” plans have been given direction and focus by his mentor Aslam Hirani. And for Sharukh Vasaya, his interests in geology gave him the opportunity to meet with geologists and energy specialists at BP and Niti Aayog.
Yet with all the success there were tremendous challenges. RFS was designed to be a long term and highly personalized programme and while 48 students have benefitted from the first cycle, it will take tremendous resourcing to scale this initiative. As with other long term programmes there are also challenges around long-term sustainability and sustaining the interests of the mentor and the mentees.
While the 9 month journey for the 2016 cycle has now closed, the RFS team is reviewing over 300 applications that have poured in for the 2017 cycle. As the national team convenes for yet another 9 month cycle, the enthusiasm and energy is palpable. “This is a remarkable opportunity”, says Chairman Mohammed Furniturewalla as his team assembles to review applications. “RFS was engineered to be a long term, resource-intensive programme and it has succeeded in providing students with exposure and opportunity in the careers of their choice”, he says. “We have set the bar high in 2016. Now all we need to do is raise it”.
