Building The Deepak Literacy Fund

Because Digital Literacy shouldn’t depend on your pin code.

On April 4th, I walked into Bal Shiksha Kendra after a break of several months for an offline session of the Deepak Literacy Fund. The school, run by the Dayawati Raj Bala Memorial Foundation, is a small, well-maintained space surrounded by slums. Outside, the air was thick with pollution—a stark reminder of the systemic neglect that shapes the lives of these children. Inside, though, there was something else—curiosity, energy, and a hunger to learn.

Returning to teaching was a milestone. But it wasn’t where my journey began.

As a child, I often watched my late grandfather—an engineer turned IT professor—patiently tutor students who couldn’t afford coaching. He believed education should never be locked behind privilege or price. That learning had to be accessible to be transformative.

I didn’t fully understand what he meant—until I sat for my board exams a year ago in a small, crumbling school worlds away from my daily life. There were no projectors, no smart boards- barely even any computers. Just a tiny blackboard.

The disparity was too sharp to ignore.

Technological literacy shouldn’t be a privilege.

That belief became the foundation of the Deepak Literacy Fund—an initiative to bridge India’s growing digital divide and give under-resourced students access to the tools that could shape their futures.

I built technology and science curriculums for students in underserved communities, sharing them with nonprofits across Delhi and conducting workshops and masterclasses. My two primary partnerships—with the Kailash Satyarthi Foundation and the Dayawati Raj Bala Memorial Foundation — allowed me to reach over 150 students.

Last October, I raised funds to set up a computer lab at Bal Shiksha Kendra. Although I’d conducted online sessions for months, this was the first time I saw that impact in person.

That day’s session focused on introducing students to the fundamentals of MS Word and Excel.

In Word, we began with typing practice and formatting basics—bold, italics, underline, bullet points, spacing. Each student created a personal assignment: stories about their families, favourite subjects, or fictional tales.

Excel brought a different kind of excitement. Students learned to enter data, format tables, and create bar graphs and pie charts. One aspiring teacher planned out how she’d track test scores. A cricket fan compiled IPL stats. By the end, every student had created a table and graph of their own.

What stood out was their curiosity. They asked thoughtful questions—why cells are named the way they are, how graphs help, why digital tools matter. Once they saw how effortlessly they could calculate, visualize, and organize using tech, something clicked.

They weren’t just learning—they were discovering what they could do with what they learned.

At the Deepak Fund, we expand horizons every day.

I’m already looking forward to our next session!