Anil Kumar – A Portrait

Anil (15) is Arun’s younger brother. When Arun was first confronted with the idea that his little brother would join the Open School team, he immediately responded: “No, he can’t.” He said, his parents won’t allow him. But in contrary, the parents said immediately yes. They asked Anil, if he wanted to join and that was it.

This incidence marks a situation Anil is constantly confronted with: How to assert himself in dealing with “the elder brother” who obviously has the say in the society they live in. This is a constant challenge for him and he is finding his way.

It wasn’t an easy decision for Anil to join the Open School project. It took him a few days – he was very much bothered how his school teachers would react and surely he lacked self-confidence. But surprisingly the moment he had made up his mind, he fully embraced his chance and took his stand. One can see he is very happy with his decision – it has completely changed the way he talks, acts and practices. He is certainly on fire and highly motivated. He didn’t shy away to participate in a one week workshop with 200 hand picked students from the MIT and Havard University.

Every now and then he gets distracted and it takes a week to put him back on track – he is assuring that he is committed to learn, he just needs every now and then time to re-adjust. I assume this is normal for a boy at his age who is catapulted in a world full of opportunities. He needs to digest and find a new balance.

Anil is certainly one of the brightest kids we have in the village. He is way above village average when it comes to reading and writing and he shows a true eagerness to learn. His English has improved a lot – just imagine two years ago he started to learn and last year he already published his first short story, illustrated by an American friend. He has become more or less computer savy, has taken his first steps in robotics and is just about to start a maker space at our Villa Janwaar. To interact with the smaller kids and to pass on his learning to them is one of the next steps Anil will take. In preparation for this, he interacted with the DIY community in China – he got a virtual tour through Seeed’s xfactory in Beijing and David Li, who opened the first maker in Shanghai, introduced the eco-system of the DIY world to him.

As all the other kids – because of the pandemic – Anil is now back in Janwaar and learning there from our newly implemented computer room at the Villa Janwaar. He has started to apply his learning to solve village problems – an important next step on his learning jouney.

Just like Asha he has registered for the 10th grade NIOS exams, he is the only one who will pass the exams in English. Hats off!

Anil understands simple context and is capable of connecting dots. He is a very polite kid, certainly not a front-runner but rather a very honest and reliable back-up. A must have in every team.

For 2020 he has summarized his learning journey: