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Balaji Sampath | |
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Born | Chennai, India | 17 January 1973
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | IIT Madras, University of Maryland, College Park, USA (PhD) |
Occupation(s) | Founder and Secretary, AID India & CEO of Ahaguru |
Website | www |
Balaji Sampath (born 17 January 1973) [1] is an Indian educationist, scientist, [2] and the founder and secretary of Association for India's Development - India chapter, [3] [4] an India-based non-profit NGO that conducts science teaching and primary school programs for children to aid their educational development. [5] He is also the founder and CEO of Ahaguru, an educational online coaching startup that provides training courses on different subjects online. [6] [7] [8] He is also an author of science books for primary and higher level education. [2]
Balaji was born in Chennai, India on 17 January 1973 into a family where both of his parents were government workers. [1] [9] Because his parents were often transferred to different locations for their government jobs, as a child Balaji was exposed to a number of schools across India. He had difficulty in understanding scientific subjects due to "ineffective teaching". Early in life, he devised his own system of analysis and arriving at solutions. [9]
Balaji appeared for IIT JEE and obtained All India Rank 4 in 1990, [10] considered one of the most difficult competitive exams in India. He completed his B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1994, [11] [12] and his doctorate in Electronics and communication Engineering from University of Maryland, College Park. [12] [13]
Balaji started his career as a volunteer for AID United States chapter from 1994 while he was doing his doctorate. [14] After completing his PhD degree, he returned to India to work full-time on social issues in 1997 and founded AID India. [1] [15] [16] He worked with the Centre for Ecology and Rural Development and the Peoples Science Movement on Health and Education Programs. Balaji organized Peoples Health assembly campaign in 2000 at a national level and began campaigning for better public education and access to healthcare, especially in the rural areas. [1]
AID India trains teachers in government schools with the goal of improving the quality of teaching, especially for science and mathematics by using innovative techniques and devising educational aid. [15] The mission of AID India is to empower socially disadvantaged sections of the society through socio-economic development programs, education, providing micro credit, and providing training in the areas of health, human rights and utilization of resources for income generation. [17]
In 2011, Balaji started Ahaguru.com, an online education portal to enhance science and math learning and problem-solving skills of middle and high school students. The startup, "a pioneer in online coaching", provides training courses completely online. It covers physics, chemistry and math for classes 7 to 12 for CBSE, NEET and JEE. The full year course is modelled like a classroom with teachers explaining concepts and showing how to solve different questions. [1] [18] [19] [20]