PuneTech

(Ketan Deshpande, who is currently a 4^th year engineering student in VIT, Pune, started the FUEL NGO 4 years ago, to help students of 12th standard navigate through the treacherous waters of what happens after their 12th standard exams. FUEL has now become a major movement across Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka. This article, is a guest post by Omkar Sapre, Senior Correspondent with the Economic Times.)

Ketan Deshpande, a 4th year engineering student at VIT, started FUEL; which has helped 1.5 lakh students across Maharashtra and Karnataka with the admissions and career options process after 12th std.

Four years ago, Ketan Deshpande and his friends were close to being traumatised Class 12-passed 16-year-olds, having either missed entrance exams or having got their forms rejected, or having not known of education avenues altogether. While any other student of their age would have chosen to compromise and stay with the problems, Ketan and friends decided to do something so that their juniors do not face the same problems and miss vital education opportunities.

Ketan compiled information of major entrance exams and education opportunities after Class 12, in different streams and published it in a book Students Fuel. The book was widely accepted, but students were in need of more help than just information of opportunities. The application processes of all entrance exams are extremely complicated. Huge numbers of students were making mistakes in these processes and missing vital and the only opportunities in their lives.

“The notifications for the entrance tests are released in newspapers from November to February, a time when most students are busy in practical assignments and preparing for board exams. Many of them miss out on these notifications. Entrance tests and competitive exams follow almost immediately after HSC exams and given the large number of such tests being conducted for various disciplines, students land in a tight spot while gathering information and applying for all of them.” Ketan observed.

In addition to this, there are students out there who want to pursue certain academic and career path, but are not sure which, and obviously don’t know how. Though there are innumerable avenues and streams of education and career options available, students hardly know about any of them except a few. This lack of knowledge pushes students into options that are not the best fit for them. Landing up in misfit options, students get frustated and some are even driven to suicides.

Considering the need, Ketan, along with his friends started conducting seminars for Class 12 students, to give them a complete guidance on all education opportunities, with timelines of exams, details of documents required, and exam paper patterns along with guidance on how to fill up forms, without making mistakes. Ketan then founded the NGO FUEL (Friends Union For Energising Lives) with the mission of saving students from missing education opportunities in their lives

Students at Jalgaon attending a FUEL seminar

FUEL, now is a registered NGO with a pan-Maharashtra footprint, doing its bit in nation building for Vision 2020, by helping students in their education. It is also working in North Karnataka with the support of Deshpande Foundation. The members and volunteers of FUEL, all of them students, take out time on weekends to visit schools and colleges in Maharashtra and North Karnataka to conduct informative seminars. To address the students who could not make it to the seminars, or may have queries which they could not ask at the seminars, FUEL also runs helplines using personal mobiles of some members of the core team.

The Students Fuel book is now in the sixth edition and includes all the India-level, state-level and some regional level entrance tests for all professional courses. The book gives information for each test, its approximate date, eligibility, number of seats on offer, how to fill an application form, pattern of tests, addresses of the institutes and the courses they run, fee structure and other such things.

Deshpande Foundation supports FUEL in North Karnataka, while the expenses for the Maharashtra activities are funded through the pocket money of the student volunteers, advertisements in the Students Fuel book, sale of the book and some voluntary donations. Juniors who benefited from the initiative and joined the group now work as coordinators in their respective cities.

In the past three years, FUEL has reached over 1.5 lakh students in Maharashtra and Karnataka. However, there is long way to go because over 25 lakh students pass through the ring of fire called Class 12. Most of these students are landing up in misfit education options and making a mess of their lives. They need to be saved and guided to the right path and contribute to building our nation. FUEL needs your help and whatever help you can offer will be always welcome. Donations are definitely a lifeline. Apart from this, whatever help you can offer will be always welcome. Please contact 9271213241/42 or e-mail: fuelngo@gmail.com/ info@studentsfuel.com, to know more about how to help.

Check the FUEL website for more details.

About the Author – Omkar Sapre

Omkar is a storyteller by passion and has been in journalism for the past 10 years to satiate his passion. He has worked across three languages English, Hindi and Marathi and in his latest assignment, he is employed as a senior correspondent with The Economic Times, India, which is one of the largest business dailies in the world.

Over the course of his career till now, he has written (told stories) across various fields like media and entertainment, non-profits, entrepreneurial ventures, technology, animation, gaming, agriculture, brands, sports, civic issues, crime etc. He loves to travel, meet new people, maintain contacts, develop friendships, explore new subjects, deepen his knowledge across various fields and he is always open for new challenges. He is a technoholic, he loves machines, and he is interested in knowing in detail how they work.