An engineering student builds a flourishing social entrepreneurship network via a primer for undergraduate entrance tests
A student finds the entrance test to an engineering college a never-to-be-forgotten struggle. Most others would simply grumble. Not Kedar Deshpande. He turned the problem into an opportunity, producing a primer for fellow sufferers — a sort of “all you want to know about…” booklet containing the low-down on engineering colleges and their entrance tests.
Called Student’s Fuel, the book costs a modest Rs 100 and is published by Friends Union For Energising Lives (FUEL), a voluntary organisation that Deshpande founded in 2006. FUEL is a registered NGO that works to create awareness about entrance tests and centralised admission processes for Class 10 and Class 12 students.
Among other things, Student Fuel tries to address such issues as the complexity of the entrance test forms and the confusion regarding which college is attainable (the booklet is available online).
“The rigmarole of appearing for my engineering entrance test made me realise that there is so much information that one needs to know and it must be canalised. Hence the book,” says Ketan Deshpande, who is chairman of FUEL.
Having distributed 10,000 copies of which 8,000 have been sold so far, Student’s Fuel has run into five editions and has become a compendium of information of all undergraduate-level national exams. Deshpande, who is a third-year student at the Vishwakarma Institute of Technology in Pune, started out by collating the information through the brochures he had, newspapers and websites.
Now, he has followed up the initiative with a helpline. Like the book, this is based on a simple idea. It comprises five private mobile numbers of volunteers whom parents and students can call with entrance test- related enquiries.
Two upcoming projects from FUEL along the same lines are the Cut Off Helpline and SMS Exam Alerts for students across Maharashtra.
Class 10 students can use the Cut Off Helpline software to find out which junior colleges they are likely to be eligible for admission based on their actual or projected marks in the school final exam.
Similarly, Class 12 students can search for engineering, management, pharmacy and medical colleges to which they may be eligible for admission based on their final exam marks.
Twenty-one-year old Deshpande’s business model might be the kind of simple Big Idea that venture capitalists jump on. For the moment, though, he has received recognition in the form of a year-long Paragon fellowship given by the Foundation for Youth Social Entrepreneurship (FYSE).
The fellowship aims to “inspire and empower young people to take actions that create positive change and real impact in their communities, their countries and Asia,” according to the FYSE website. Operating through a network of partners, its “talent pipeline” partners in India include Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneshwar and S P Jain Institute.
Meanwhile, the FUEL movement has now grown to reach across Maharashtra and Karnataka. With a core team of six and a volunteer force of around 100 — all students — Deshpande travels on weekends to 110 institutes (coaching classes, colleges and so on) and conducts free seminars.
Like the booklet, FUEL volunteers at these seminars guide students on what entrance tests they need to watch out for, their time lines, what documents to keep ready, how to fill up application forms and so on.
Funds for the seminars come from donations and volunteers’ pocket money.
This year FUEL plans to reach out to almost 60,000 students. Deshpande has also been invited to hold seminars in five districts of Karnataka by Indian-American dotcom millionaire Gururaj Deshpande, whose Deshpande Centre, educates close to 5, 000 students.
Clearly, FUEL’s tank is rapidly filling up.
