Nanditha Devaraj, 15, and Niveditha Devaraj, 11, students of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kottayam are gaining popularity as young Vedic Math tutors taking online workshops. They began conducting ‘Maths Made Easy’ workshops for friends in 2020 when Nanditha was in grade X and Niveditha in VI-grade. The duo grew up seeing their father, P Devaraj, an automobile engineer turned certified Vedic maths trainer and the Director, Cosmic Maths Foundation teaching students at home. “There is no specific time they started learning Vedic Maths – they just grew up, seeing me creating content and teaching.”
Interestingly, the youngsters never had any formal Vedic Maths sessions. Their mother, Dhanya PS is a computer programmer in an engineering college in Kottayam.
In 2020, they took workshops on Vedic Maths for 300 students, including for teachers from North India, and in 2021, more than 1000 students benefited from their online sessions, consisting of 3-day and 5-day workshops. The workshops were held for juniors, class III to V and seniors, class VI to X. ” Initially, we took the help of our father to create content, but now we handle everything from poster creation to content, and promotion to teaching, ” says Nanditha.
As the number of students interested in learning increased, to ensure the students are serious about learning, the learners need to show the receipt of the payment done towards the PM CARES Fund, for a minimum of INR 100.
Nanditha and Niveditha responded to a call for presenting a paper for the 7th Vedic Mathematics conference, run by the UK-based Institute for the Advancement of Vedic Mathematics (IAVM). On June 12th and 13th, 2021, they attended both the international conference as subject experts and conducted workshops for international primary students.
Vedic mathematics is an ancient method of mathematics for fast and easy calculation.
“It is easy to calculate fast, avoids errors in calculations, helps in competitive exams, results in achievement and thus, increases self-confidence, ” adds Devaraj.
Peer-to-peer learning is important as per the new education policy and the workshops are helping children learn in a fun way. “ The motto should be ‘Enjoy and learn’,” says Devaraj. Their success story even made it to CBSE’s Twitter page. As the online classes continue, the sisters switch between learning and teaching, currently, expanding their teaching sessions to more schools and organisations.
The sisters are happy, even amidst the pandemic, they have gained confidence and are socially active – interacting with their students and their parents over calls, over-friendly online teaching sessions, and gaining new friends.
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