“It’s easier to take than to give. It’s nobler to give than to take. The thrill of taking lasts a day. The thrill of giving lasts a lifetime.”

• Joan Marques

 

Ensuring equitable access to STEAM education for girls from less-privileged backgrounds is a focus area for Belakoo. The Belakoo CET Boot camp looks to support intensive CET coaching for girl students from underprivileged backgrounds who aspire to apply for professional courses in STEM fields. We work with our partner Asmathguru to design and deploy an intensive coaching program to bridge learning gaps and aid practice in preparation for the CET. The program encourages and enables more active participation from aspiring girl students in STEM and professional courses. 

 

2022 April was the first CET Bootcamp by Belakoo Trust for girl students. We had about 150 girls from underprivileged backgrounds wanting to appear for the competitive CET exams. The bootcamp was conducted in partnership with The Government Girls P.U. College, Malleswaram – a model college initiative and the largest Government campus in Karnataka with students across 1st grade to PG courses.

 

The course material was developed in partnership with Asmathguru – a reputed PU coaching institute. Asmathguru brings to the program an excellent network of teachers who have over 2.5 decades of teaching PU students. Thus, the 150 girls were coached and mentored by professional teachers with nearly two decades of experience in mentoring students for competitive exams. Belakoo Trust provided the students with complete and comprehensive study material support, including printed study material handouts, practice papers and stationery (notebooks, pens, pencils and files) were provided by Belakoo trust. The students had over 180 hours of intensive coaching spread across 30 days. In addition, there were 2 mock tests per subject administered at the end of the camp to build familiarity with the CET exam process and counselling prep advice was provided to all students. 

 

Impact of the program: 

 

• 24 students have secured admission in engineering colleges (with scholarship) as compared to 2 students in the previous year

• 67% increase YoY in overall student performance who have appeared for the CET exam 

• Over 20% of students have scored a rank in the first 50,000 in their CET 

• These results are the first of its kind in the Government PU College 

• Students are being coached on how to appear for their CET coaching, how to look at seat selection, and what colleges to shortlist. 

• Interactions with teachers and career counselling helped all students improve their confidence and also set goals for themselves. 

• The recorded classes will provide the necessary scale to make this coaching available to all PU students in Karnataka appearing for KCET 2023

 

The Impact Report for our first-ever CET Bootcamp for underprivileged girls is now available for viewing, detailing the program execution and impact achieved. Belakoo Trust expresses our sincere gratitude to all our donors who contributed to this program, giving wings to our most ambitious project yet, and the dreams and aspirations of the 150 girls studying at the Government PU College, Malleswaram. 

 

This year’s planning for the boot camp is in progress, and we are partnering with the Government Girls P.U. College, Malleswaram. 

 

Cost of Sponsorship: INR 6,000 to sponsor a girl student for the boot camp. Click here to sponsor a girl child today.