Meet Our Team
The first principal of true teaching is that teaching can be taught.nothing can be taught to the mind which is not ready concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding soul of the creature
-Sri Aurobindo
Education is a self organizing system,where learning is an emergent phenomnon.
-Dr.Sugata Mitra
Coming from two hugely influential thought leaders – one deeply spiritual and the other completely data-driven and scientific -we see an amazing convergence of thought which is the core philosophy behind I wanna Learn.We believe that our mission is to create a conducive and enriching environment for learning the fundamental concepts of math for any learner.As a large part of this mission , we strive to create and curate the most authentic and relevant content in order to enable learning and reinforce it by repeated practice. We trust that this environment is built you to succeed and not to test you or for you to fail. The agency of learning is something that we believe rests firmly with you-the learner. We are there with you to encourage you,listen to you and empower you by providing whatever we can in the form of content.Every success of yours will be a small validation of our mission.
Srikanth founded Altius foundation in 2007 and is a dreamer and risk taker. An astute financial markets investor who draws inspiration from the people and world around him, he has had a hand in several path breaking projects in media and education.
He and Krithivasan dreamt of a self paced learning system for Math for the children with zero access to technology in 2010 which has evolved into I wanna Learn today.
A self-confessed lover of Movies, Math, and Madras, Vasan quit corporate life when he turned forty for a radically different quality of life, and during the last ten years with Altius, he has made sure of a significant impact of every program of the Foundation at the grassroots level. As much as Srikanth is the dreamer, Vasan is the doer and together they have been the heart and soul of the Foundations programs.
A big stickler for productivity, integrity, and efficiency, Vasan has built I wanna learn with a very small but passionate team.
A bundle of positivity and a great connector of people, Sharanya is always there in whatever role she needed - be it in brainstorming for solutions , being a compassionate listener or volunteering for team missions.
She is a passionate advocate for self directed learning, she is on a quest along with Srikanth to establish alternatives to schooling through "The Learning Community at Quest " !
Gita is on our board of Trustees and she is our go to person whenever we need advice or counsel on matters relating to Children's behavior and their intrinsic motivation.
One of the very few Behaviour Analysts in the country, Gita is one of the premier experts on the subject and runs an ABA Resource Centre for children with Autism called We CAN.
One of our Trustees and a pillar of major support for us from day one, Jayendra is someone who has compassion and creativity in equal measure. A man for coming up with the amazing ideas from the heart, he is involved in several impactful social sector projects and is the founder trustee of Bhoomika Trust which has done some amazing work in the field of disaster relief over the years.He is an inspiration for all of us at the Foundation.
Uma is at the core of the content creation team responsible for the awesome content you see on I wanna learn.
From facilitating learning for Primary school children with one of our projects , Uma seamlessly adapted to her role in content creation - a process in which she learnt a lot herself she says.
Her passion and commitment to the cause of educating children runs deep. Her reflective nature and quiet manner are her best qualities we observe as she contributes efficiently to the cause!
Anand describes himself as a thinker and indeed he is one of the teams, chief problem solvers. Innovative tech solutions that can be implemented in every environment is his forte.
Always up for a challenge and new situations, he loves playing cricket in his spare time!
Magesh joined us as a project coordinator for Gift a Future, a support plan to help children complete schooling.
His forte is being an effective community organiser and that meant a seamless addition of a complimentary role of reaching I wanna learn to many schools in Tamil Nadu.
An eternal optimist, he takes great joy and pride in working with children deserving of support.
From teaching and facilitating learning for Primary school children, Lakshmi Priya has moved into a leading role in our content creation team.
She has played a pivotal part in laying down and adhering to processes in curating, developing and uploading exercise module in the platform.
LP as she is called by team members, loves to listen to music and working for social cause is what drives her to give her best.
Aarthi was our very first facilitator when when we piloted the Math lab in a school and was a strong pillar of support for our first successful implementation. Very popular with the kids, she made the math lab a very lively place.
This nature lover currently lives in Derby pursuing her career and parenting goals with equal aplomb.
Rajagopalan or Raju gets his thrills from solving super hard Sudoku puzzles. This senior citizen who loves Maths has been extremely helpful as a part of our content team and in the process learning the ropes with handling technology.
Teaching the English language to first generation learners was Mamtha's passion with she joined us five years back. Her understanding of the challenges faced by the children led her to a lot of insights for her in order to develop processes and content for imparting effective learning.
She was an integral part of the content creation and testing team for I wanna learn, before she moved on to resume her corporate career.
An amazing volunteering community organiser. Sandhya first met us as a volunteer and then joined our facilitation team in our Karka primary program. She went on to set up and run the language and maths labs for primary school children in Mary Clubwala Jadhav School. She was an integral part of the team that built I wanna learn through endless brainstorming sessions and coordination with the developers. An eternal optimist and someone loves to learn,she now lives in Ontario, Canada
Sa Vidya ya Vimuktaye - (Knowledge is that which liberates) is a thought Sree Prabha swears by.
An integral part of the facilitation and content creation team, she is very dedicated to the cause of education.
Someone whose heart and soul is with organsiations in the social sector, Latha is a major pillar of support for us and a constant go to person for any help or advice related to processes or people. She has volunteered with us for several of our programes to do with children. She is a great connector of people too.
Aparna joined our team as one of the first facilitators when we expanded our schools coverage and became a vital member of the team in that process.
She has worked with a variety of learners across many schools and helped improve our facilitation methods.
After taking a break from work for parenthood, this fan of APJ Abdul Kalaam and Rajinikanth, now plans to have her own academy to teach Math to children.
A fierce determination to work for social causes particularly education in underprivileged communities, Sophitha joined us as Cluster Head handling our Math Labs ( delivers I wanna learn in schools) for a group of institutions. Aside of work, the thing she loves is being the unedited 'herself' with her friends.
Aravindhan is from Pondicherry and he joined us after his graduation because of his innate desire to work in the education sector and make quality education accessible to children from all backgrounds. He works as Cluster Head and his easy going manner and charming demeanour makes him a hit with the schools and children. Aravindhan is a foodie and loves to travel to new places!
Hema is on one of our founding members and has been a constant supporter and cheerleader of our work. A civil engineer by qualification, her heart has always been in the social sector particularly to do with Autism. Always available for any advice or counsel, she presently lives in Mysore.
MJ or Michael joined the foundation as a coordinator for the Gift a Future program. He has since taken on the role of expanding the reach of the program in the districts. Beneath the fun loving manner, his never give up attitude is his strength. MJ loves to play football or badminton in his spare time.
Lavanya joined our team in the accounts and admin role but has seamlessly adapted to any roles where she could contribute including translating and verifying content and teaching children supported by the Foundation in our after school support program. A person who values her family and work very high, shines because of her gentle and caring manner.
Suganthi describes herself as an unfeigned Philomath, and its shows in her enthusiam and passion as facilitator and content creator for I Wanna Learn.Her love for social causes and new ideas led to her association with us. Suganthi loves to doodle and play the violin in her spare time!
Our Contributors
I wanna learn roots go back to 2011 when we began our journey to discover tech based and self paced learning solutions. The quest started with one school in Mylapore and led to the birth of Karka Math Labs which were set up in thirty schools across Tamil Nadu over the nine years.
Needless to say, this journey would not have been possible but for our inspirations and huge support and collaborations along the way.
Khan Academy and Sal Khan for being huge inspiration for our mission and the support in the form of amazing content that is largely responsible for the learning spine of I wanna learn holding strong.
Prof Sugata Mitra and his TED Talk that inspired us to set up our version of a SOLE (Self organised learning environments) in the form of Math Labs where learning can happen!
Bhoomika Trust, who have been a constant source of support to set up labs in Government schools and run them sustainably.
Palayam Foundation, USA for the generous grants that have funded the development cost of the platform and for supporting running of Math Lab environments.
Urjita, who have been an amazing source of strength for us to expand the Math labs across schools and to give us the confidence to dream big.
Vetrivel Foundation for providing the vernacular content in Tamil of Khan Academy videos.
Dozens of Volunteers and Interns who have worked on developing and testing the content.
Mr Gopalan, the administrator of Sri Karpagavalli Vidyalaya, Mylapore, who believed in us and let us set up and run our first Math Lab.
We are all born with extraordinary powers of imagination, intelligence, feeling, intuition, spirituality, and of physical and sensory awareness
-Sir Ken Robinson
Contact Us
Flat No. 3,Saravanalayam,(Old No.19)
New No.33,P.S.Sivaswami Salai,
Mylapore,Chennai – 600004.
+919444231243
team.iwannalearn@gmail.com
