Balaji Sampath (born 17 January 1973) is an Indian educationist, social activist, the founder and secretary of a non-profit Organization,

Association for India's Development The Association for India's Development, Inc. (AID) is a secular charity organization based in the United States which promotes "sustainable, equitable and just development". AID has won several awards for its work, including the 'Global Impact Aw ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

chapter, an India-based NGO that carries out science teaching and primary school programs for children to aid their educational development. AidIndia 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 aids . The mission of AidIndia is to empower socially disadvantaged and often forgotten sections of the society through socio-economic development programs, education, providing micro credit, and imparting training in the areas of health, human rights and utilization of resources for income generation. Balaji is also the founder and CEO of Ahaguru. A pioneer education start-up in online coaching that engages in providing training courses on different subjects online. Balaji has written many science books for primary and higher-level education to explain very complex concepts in a simple and easy to understand language for students.

Personal life

Balaji was born in Chennai,

on 17 January 1973 into a family where both of his parents were government workers. 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

. But one thing remained constant: his problem understanding scientific subjects because of ineffective teaching. Early in life, he devised his own system of analysis and arriving at solutions.

Education

Balaji appeared for

IIT JEE The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Institu ...

and obtained All India Rank 4 in 1990, 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 Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

in 1994, and his doctorate in Electronics and communication Engineering from

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

Career

Balaji started his career as a volunteer for AID United States chapter from 1994 while he was doing his doctorate. After completing his PhD degree, he returned to India to work full-time on social issues in 1997 and founded AID India. 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. 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. Yahoo! News said: "This education startup, www.AhaGuru.com, a pioneer in online coaching, provides training courses completely online. From CBSE to NEET and JEE Advanced, it covers physics, chemistry and math courses from class 7 to 12.Their best seller is the full year course, which is modelled like a classroom with an expert teacher explaining the key concepts and showing how to solve different types of questions.". In 2021, his Ahaguru platform became a very big hit. He known for his futuristic thinking by introducing tech-based learning in 2013 itself.

Awards

* IIT Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award 2012. * Times of India Social Impact Award for AID, 2011 from Prime Minister, Dr.

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

in 2011. * Ashoka Fellowship for innovative work on Science Education. * Lemelson Inventor Certificate for Science Education. * MIT Indus Technovator's Award 2005 for Village Libraries and Science Education. * Rotary Distinguished Service Award by the Rotary Club of Madras South. *

Pratham Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. It was co-founded by Madhav Chavan anFarida Lambay. It works towards the provision of quality education to the underprivileged children in India. Established in Mumbai in ...

USA Achievement Award 2006 for improving reading skills in Tamil Nadu. * Association for India's Development JS Fellowship, 1998. * All India Rank 4 in the IIT JEE, 1990.

References

External links