Alumni Story: Amita Nizam and Dviti Foundation

Amita Nizam – Class of 2013-15 [M.A. Development]

Organization Name: Dviti Foundation

Dviti, meaning ‘bright light’ hopes to restore the lost light in the sphere of learning, teaching and evaluation. ​

AmitaNizam worked for over two years as a teacher and a teacher trainer with schools in India and the middle east. Her interactions and exposure to primary stakeholders-teachers and students as well as an understanding of classroom as an entity, she identified a problem that she desperately wanted to solve. She identified that while there were talks about the agency of the learner and constructivist pedagogies, at the end of their school life learners still struggle to make their own meaning out of the learning imparted in school and steer ahead in life. Conformity was still harming the basis of educational health. The result was Dviti Foundation, formed after a year-long research in the domain of social and emotional learning.

Nature of work

Dviti Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that aims to introduce Social and Emotional Learning an active process in the dynamics of an average Indian classroom. As a student, a teacher and a teacher trainer, Amita’s favorite problem was the skewed outlook towards academic success in the minds of the academic community. Having identified the changes that Social and Emotional Learning had brought about in other countries, she aimed to bring about this revolution in the Indian context. However, she was cognizant of the fact that student problems elsewhere are not entirely synonymous with the ones in India. After conducting research that involved all stakeholders of the academic fraternity, Amita and her team has developed a curriculum and an implementation plan that addresses the problem she had identified.

This model of learning focuses on equipping people with social skills and emotional support. Dviti Foundation’s goal is to identify the root cause through a reflective process. Having begun out with the intention to tie up with schools that would integrate Dviti’s curriculum into their daily timetable, Amita saw the need for SEL programmes for teachers which will be introduced soon. Dviti is a channel through which the notion of success will be redefined, according to the structure of their programmes. Their aim is to boost emotional intelligence and pro-social behavior through the academic development of a child.