Amit's Story: Looking to Transform Education in Rural India

Founder of FranConnect Amit Pamecha is the epitome of the American dream. Born in India, Amit earned his BTech from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi and an MS in Robotics from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Grateful for his own education and wanting to give others the same opportunities he was afforded, he co-founded the Hope Network DC, a charity focused on connecting those in need with those willing to provide help.

But like many Indian-Americans, Amit has never forgotten his roots. Over the years, he has made frequent trips back home with the goal of applying his philanthropic interests there. On a recent visit to Rajasthan, he traveled hundreds of kilometers, visiting dozens of schools to assess the state of education in rural India firsthand.  What he found was a broken school system offering false hope to the most underprivileged members of society. He was now more determined than ever to make a difference in his homeland. But how?

After hearing about Pratham, Amit met with supporters in the DC chapter, whose passion and commitment impressed him. So much so that Amit decided to visit a site in India to gain a deeper understanding of our work. He was amazed by Pratham’s “teaching at the right level” approach, which targets a child’s ability rather than age, as well as its rigorous teacher training program and expanding digital learning capabilities. In Amit’s words, “Pratham had developed a blueprint for successfully transforming rural education.”

Read Amit’s account of his discovery of Pratham.