A Gift That Takes
Learning Further
The Ranjit Singh Rozi Shiksha Kendra
The Ranjit Singh Rozi Shiksha Kendra connects rural children, youth and artisans with vocational skills and livelihood technologies.
Where learning opens the door to livelihood
At the Ranjit Singh Rozi Shiksha Kendra, IIT Kanpur’s knowledge travels beyond the campus—into rural classrooms, artisan communities and farming clusters—connecting education with skills, enterprise and the possibility of a more secure future.
The distance opportunity must travel
For a child in a rural school, access to a good science teacher may depend on geography. For a young person seeking work, opportunity may depend on acquiring a market-relevant skill. For a traditional artisan, generations of knowledge can be threatened by changing markets and limited visibility.
The challenges differ, but the divide is the same: talent and aspiration are widely distributed; access to knowledge, technology and opportunity is not.
Established at IIT Kanpur in 2021, the Ranjit Singh Rozi Shiksha Kendra works to bridge that divide through two connected goals—quality education for rural children and sustainable livelihoods for rural communities.
Taking learning beyond the campus
Through its Online Rural Education Initiative, IIT Kanpur scholars and volunteers teach Mathematics and Science to students in Classes 9 to 12 through interactive smart classrooms. Lessons follow the NCERT curriculum and are delivered in accessible, conversational Hindi.
During 2024-25, the programme reached 11 schools and delivered 966 live classes over 181 working days, supported by more than 50 volunteers.
Learning also extends beyond textbooks. Educational visits, electronics and Arduino workshops, astronomy sessions and portable science kits give students opportunities to experiment and build. A CSR-supported “Lab in a Box” provides more than 100 hands-on experiments to schools with limited laboratory infrastructure.
From inherited skill to sustainable enterprise
Through Kalagram, its Design Development Centre, the Kendra connects artisans, designers, technologists and rural entrepreneurs. In Bithoor, more than 100 potters have received design inputs, improved techniques, access to government programmes and platforms to showcase their work.
The same approach supports women working in sewing, embroidery and sustainable home furnishings, as well as artisans associated with Kalpi’s GI-tagged handmade-paper tradition.
The Kendra also brings technology into agriculture. Through a NABARD-supported initiative, farmers—particularly women—are trained to use solar dehydration to reduce post-harvest losses and create value-added products. Vocational programmes in leather stitching and sewing-machine operations enrolled 172 rural youth during 2024-25.
A legacy that keeps creating opportunity
The Kendra carries forward the vision of Late Dr. Ranjit Singh, a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kanpur’s pioneer batch. Through the Ranjit Singh Foundation, his philanthropy supported scholarships, an academic chair and the institutional platform that became the Kendra.
His contribution did more than fund a programme. It created a model through which education, technology, design and community partnership can work together over time.
Through the Kendra, IIT Kanpur is demonstrating that knowledge creates its greatest value when it travels—and when the opportunity it creates becomes greater than any one institution, donor or generation.
