ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2022
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. Over 31,000 young leaders on 2,400+ campuses across 140+ nations applied to join the Class of 2022. 200+ campuses worldwide (just 8%) were selected to host the 3,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT VINAYAK TIWARI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University | Lucknow, India | Advancing SDG 4 & UNAI 3
" We all belong to the community we are trying to help for we are also one of them. Having access to privilege and certain aspects of education, we are entitled individuals who wish to give back to the society in whatever way possible. As law students, we deal with people who are victims of a
social divide on a regular basis. This relationship is manifested in forms of social service and legal aid campaigns that we run. We have seen and observed things from a grassroot level and are hence quite confident in understanding the complexities of the issues involved.Hence, we are excited to be a UN Millennium Fellow "
Millennium Fellowship Project: SHIKSHANAM
As per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2020-21 data released, the enrollment of students at the pre-primary level and class 1 has gone down by 29.1lakh and 18.8 lakh respectively in 2020-21 from 2019-20. The report shows that the overall dropout rate in 2020-21 at the secondary level is 14.6 percent, down from 16.1 percent in 2019-20. At the primary level, the dropout rate in 2020-21 is 0.8 percent, down from 1.5 percent in 2019-20. Yet these figures are horrendous when contrasted with the enrollment and retention rates of other developing countries. A study by Azim Premji University revealed shocking data about learning loss, indicating that during COVID-19, “90 percent of students have lost at least one language ability and 80 percent of students have lost at least one mathematical ability”. Though the State Council of Educational Research and Training have initiated ‘Bridge Courses’ to impart vocational training, they have yielded no real result. As the national effort's lack of adequate funds, physical infrastructure, and quality teachers, India spends only a little over 3% of its GDP on education against the benchmark of 6% that every national education policy has set since 1968, which is another hindrance in imparting of quality education to children in India. During our research on this project, we identified gaps in the way the resources like time, money, and energy were being invested to teach the less-privileged kids but no tangible benefit output was being derived. With the curriculum designed by our team, we intend to provide them with basic education and also prepare them for admission tests for admission into schools. We intend not to just teach them academics but also familiarize them with the social constructs (teaching them about basic etiquette, table manners, making them aware of menstruation, etc.) and give them basic knowledge about how to use laptops/computers, how to use search engines like Google, and subsequently make them ready to step into civil society. Our end goal is to collaborate with the District Inspector of School, get their support, and get the students admitted into the various schools via the Right to Education Act, 2009, allowing children who weren’t able to gain education due to social or economic restraints to once again be a part of the formal education system.
About the Millennium Fellow
Vinayak is a second year law student at Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. He has held leadership positions in school and has good organizational skills. He has a penchant for persuading and convincing people which makes him a lot inclined towards Mooting, Mediation and Negotiation and Client Counselling Events.
He likes to learn from experts and develop virtues and skills which would help him excel in these fields. He enjoys engaging in extra curricular activities and sports and has a keen interest in music and cinema.