13 Jan From India’s Slums to the Robotics World Stage

In India, more than six million kids drop out of school every year. Out of every 100, 29 don’t even get the opportunity to complete elementary education.

By providing these kids with opportunities to realize their potential, we are able to change this. Team India 2022 is a perfect example.

Composed of five students from different government schools, they all come from underprivileged backgrounds living in urban slums.

The FIRST Global partner in India first met these kids when distributing laptops to underprivileged children. They then enrolled in their Digital Literacy program, and were soon training in robotics for the FIRST Tech Challenge regionals in India.

Selected separately for the FIRST Global team, they didn’t really know each other, but soon became close as they expanded their skill sets in coding, mechanics, and even English. Despite traveling around two hours to the workshop space, they saw their school grades improve as they focused on their academics and learned to manage their time.

“This experience has opened up a plethora of possibilities, opportunities and life-goals for these students,” says team mentor Meenal, acknowledging that now they all want to pursue degrees in engineering.

No one in their families had ever even had a passport, let alone flown out of the country. They were the first. And while the idea of representing India on the world stage would have seemed like a fairytale just a few months ago, they did just that and placed in the top 30 in Geneva.

I hope that children like me never stop dreaming,” says team member Sumit, age 14. “It has been a magical experience for me. Now I feel everything is possible.”