We rarely come across people who left something that million people dream of, just to follow their passion. Even if there are many like that, the number of people who actually succeed in doing so, can be counted on our fingers. Among those tiny group, stands this guy named Tarun Ayitham, who chucked out the two big dreams every Indian student has. He is one of the ‘wanderers’ we see who gets drifted off in the flow of their dreams. It is pretty obvious that he is good at what he does, given to the fact that he cracked both the toughest exams that our educational system is so proud of. But what actually made him refuse them and follow his passion to teach is what he explains in his TEDX talk at MLR institute of technology.
Tarun Ayitham, who believed that success, can only be achieved if you keep on changing and evolving into a better self. He says that his dream is to bring research down to schooling level. This being the centre of his goal, he paved his career around that. Beginning the talk he gives us a few examples of some eminent personalities who didn’t finish their traditional schooling.
The point he raises is that he wanted school students to get in touch with these ideas and in turn developing similar ones in their heads too. To prove this, he narrates four stories that he came across in the five and a half years of his journey. The students he taught were initially made to think on a specific topic that boosts their ability to find solutions. Here he says that 90% of the solutions to a problem depend on the creative way that you choose to prove your hypothesis. To achieve this basically you’ve got to experiment and prove rather than just gather some opinions.
He, combined with a few other organisations, is doing a great work in proving the capabilities of school students. He proves his point by giving us a few examples in which students prove their abilities and even advised the heads of their schools. The major point he raises is that the outdated curriculum we still follow in our schools. When he observed the schooling we get, he thought that it’s a good idea to introduce research in the syllabus. That’s when he realised he himself is interested in research and decided to pursue that.
He ends the talk with revealing the reason why chose to teach instead of run behind fancy careers. He narrates the story of him joining a start up institute on research by our government called IISER in Pune. Throughout the talk he gives inspiring stories of his student that prove that experimenting actually makes kids minds bloom rather than our traditional schooling. The stories he narrate also inspires us to see that even if our ways are not acceptable right now, if they are good they will eventually gather the necessary success. This man proves that a simple idea and a thoughtful way to reach it can make your life from ordinary to inspiring. Let’s wish him all success and hope that more people of this sort emerge to make the society a better place!
