Engineering minds

A life devoted to educating students has earned 70-year-old Anita Dandekar a long list of accolades over the years.

A life devoted to educating students has earned 70-year-old Anita Dandekar a long list of accolades over the years. An educationist close to the hearts of many students she has taught,Mahim resident Dandekar now finds a sense of fulfillment in the education of the underprivileged,and financing and setting up of several educational courses and awards aimed at nurturing young minds.

I retired from full-time teaching around 10 years ago,but I still feel very strongly about furthering education in whatever capacity I am able to. My husband passed away four years ago,and I keep myself busy trying to do whatever I can to help educating youngsters. I have to travel quite a bit for such things too. It really gives one a sense of satisfaction to do this. Its a real thrill when your students meet you somewhere and seem so happy, she says.

As a member of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers,she has instituted and funded three awards for female students by donating Rs 1.65 lakh each and setting the criteria for the winners. Dandekar is also closely associated with Samvedana,an organisation attached to Sahyadri Hospital in Pune that provides funding to needy children and youths from nearby villages for free surgeries to treat brain tumour,blood cancer and kidney ailments. Providing funds for the treatment of villagers suffering from serious ailments is a humbling experience. This is one of my activities particularly close to my heart since there is a good chance of saving lives with this assistance.

Still intensely passionate about her field of education,this strong-willed and determined woman had recently put in a great deal of time and effort for starting an introduction to basic technology course approved by the Director of Vocational Education for VIII,IX and X standard students,along with a one-year diploma course in Rural Technology approved by the National Institute of Open Schooling,at Devgad High School in Ratnagiri from the coming academic year. She,herself,provided the financial capital for these courses.

Dandekar is also associated with an NGO in Pune,through which she sponsors the education of one girl each for a period of 20 years.

Some of the many awards and accolades Dandekar has received for her work as an educationist include The American Biographical Institutes award for Woman of the Year representing India in 2008 for outstanding contribution to country; the Illuminated Diploma of Honour from the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge for outstanding achievement in the field of electronics; the Rashtriya Vikas Ratan Award from the Economic Growth Society of India; and the Best Educationist Award from the International Institute of Education and Management.

Hailing from Jabalpur,Dandekar had pursued Telecommunication Engineering in Jabalpur University,before completing her MTech from IIT Kanpur. She has served on the faculty of the Government Engineering College in Jabalpur ,Sardar Patel College of Engineering in Andheri and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Matunga.

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education system