One out of every eight students enrolled in a school or college tends to drop out midway without completing the education and over 62% of all dropouts happen at the school level. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to students’ learning around the world. In India, it has left over 286 million students from pre-primary to upper secondary out of the former system since March 2020. Evidence from past prolonged school closures shows that such disruptions can set generations of children back for life.

But in all these unprecedented times, Jaipuria as a group has played a role of a wingman for the students. It has been at the forefront of education in India since 1945 when Seth M. R. Jaipuria laid the seed of The Jaipuria College in Kolkata, which was inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. As a socially responsible institute, Jaipuria aims to groom its students with the best of the skills set and making them responsible citizens. The need now is to bridge the gap caused as a result of the digital disruption where students have been detached from the actual classroom learnings.

Therefore, as an outreach to reconnect the disrupted learner with the education mainstream, Jaipuria Institute launched a drive to solicit resources necessary for such an action. This includes an appeal for the donation of digital devices. It plans to organize 20,000 plus hours of volunteer time for campaigning and delivering tuitions to the disrupted learners, distributing the digital devices, and bringing onboard disrupted learners back to the education mainstream. Talking on the social cause Dr. Kavita Pathak (Director, Jaipuria Lucknow) and Prof Reena Agarwal (Chairperson, Social Responsibility Committee) showcased their concern for the disruption caused in the lives of the underprivileged and what steps can be taken in unison to bring them back to mainstream education. The noble cause to reopen doors for education for the disrupted learner fuelled greater participation from the senior and the junior batch. Ultimately, evoking the philanthropist within. To put forth a bigger picture on the congregation Jaipuria Institute of Management conducted a social experiment wherein a total of 54 teams were formed consisting of 10 members in each team. Each team was assigned a task to serve the cause by pitching the idea to the masses in a marketplace, homes and persuading donors of digital devices like mobile phones, tablets, laptops to help the disrupted learners capture the light of education. This step provided them with a medium to attain online education and tread the path of brighter future. This initiative induced people towards philanthropy and moved them to be a changemaker in society.