Support Agastya to mainstream the dropouts through Operation Vasantha (OV) and identify and train children to be young instructor leaders (YIL)

The issue at hand is that of catering to child development and the need of the hour is to create an open platform for experiential and hands-on learning that encourages questioning and sharing of knowledge.

The grand outcome that Agastya intends to achieve is to develop a sense of social responsibility in the community and children of the village/area by providing an opportunity to local youths for mentoring their peers.

Operation Vasantha has been impacting the lives of disadvantaged rural children since 2009. This highly interactive and empowering initiative helps "at risk" children to continue education/ process of learning. It also aims to educate families on the importance of education and engage dropouts and other children through interactive activities and fun learning sessions. These activities include parents counseling, health and hygiene camps and education on ecology.

The Young Instructor Leader program is a peer to peer teaching initiative where Agastya identifies and trains students to be Young Instructor Leaders where children teach science to their peers. A selected group of students is identified with the help of Agastya's instructors and school teachers. The students are selected based on their leadership skills, innovative approach, innate curiosity, questioning nature and ability to think laterally, not on their ability to secure good grades. They are provided special training on science models in addition to training to build their capacity and skill in presentation and communication skills.

Agastya now runs 500+ Operation Vasantha centers across the country where we cater to the community, trying to positively impact their access to livelihood opportunities.

The OV centers will impact the community in a positive way that will help in accommodating those who were unfortunate to continue education and will help in further driving the point of emphasis on education among our rural communities.

The YIL program started off with less than 10 students in the year 2007 from Kuppam, At present, we have 20,000+ YILs across India.

YIL program is one of the unique programs in Agastya for shaping and nurturing our future leaders. The training seeks to empower students to become positive role-models, change-makers in their schools, communities, and the society at large.