Ravi Sonnad: Optimizing India’s Population Advantage through Children’s Education

By PradeeP anand

Last week, India received a lot of global attention because it was on the verge of passing China in population, “knocking it from its perch for the first time in at least three centuries, (as) data released by the United Nations” last week shows.

India has a work force that is young and expanding even as that in the industrialized world is aging and, in some cases, shrinking.

It is time for India to deliver on its “demographic dividend”.

However, while India is making great progress in educating its children (especially marginalized ones), according to a UNICEF study, “education and learning systems worldwide are constrained in delivering positive outcomes for children and adolescents and remain mostly focused on the acquisition of knowledge that is not sufficient to prepare them to meet challenges and seize opportunities now and in the future.” In other words, they will lack soft skills such as those needed for collaboration, teamwork, communications, problem-solving and leadership.

(https://www.unicef.org/reports/ global-framework-transferableskills)

By 2030, this UNICEF study states that “an estimated 825 million children, worldwide are expected to leave school without basic secondary level skills.”

Of these about 150 million children will be in India. Developing “soft skills” in these children is vital for India’s progress.

There is an urgent need to expand and transform education and learning systems in India to provide all children and adolescents, especially those who are marginalized, with quality learning opportunities that include the “soft skills” they need to succeed in school, work, and life.

Enabling Leadership (www. enablingleadership.org) is a 501(c)(3) organization that is focused on helping children develop skills such as leadership, problem-solving, collaboration and communication, with a focus on values and principles, and exposure to gender equality.

Currently, Enabling Leadership works with 9000 children in India and equips them with skills to succeed in a fastchanging world. Its programs enable them to collaborate, reflect on and connect first-hand experiences and learnings from the classroom or playground with their real lives.

It’s a great start but it has a long way to go. These marginalized children of India and Enabling Leadership need your help.

Ravi Sonnad (IIT Madras, ‘87), Founder & CEO of Enabling Leadership is visiting Houston from May 3rd through May 5th, 2023. We invite you to meet him and learn about Enabling Leadership. You have three choices:

1. May 3rd, Wednesday

Location: University Branch

Library, Meeting Room #2, 4010 University Blvd. Sugar Land, Texas 77479

6.30 PM - 7.30 PM

Parking at Library Lot

2. May 4th, Thursday

Location: Madras Pavilion / Indian Summer 16260 Kensington Drive, Sugar Land, TX 77478, 6.30 PM - 7.30 PM

Please sign up for the first two choices at https://tinyurl. com/5bcabwnt.

3. May 5th, Friday

Personal Meetings at a mutually convenient location. You can gather a small crowd of friends to meet Ravi Sonnad.

Times Available: May 3 (3PM –6 PM)

May 4 (9AM – 6 PM)

May 5 (9AM – 6 PM)

May 6 (9AM – 11 AM)

For more details contact: Balaji Ramakrishnan +1 (832) 247-3954 (Phone or Whatsapp) or via email at ramakrisb@gmail. com ; Pradeep Anand via email at pradeep@seeta.com

Please meet Ravi Sonnad personally and learn about making a huge difference in creating a new generation of leaders and a superior workforce in India.