A New Initiative · Meghwal Mathia

From School to Livelihood

Phase I built access — two schools, more than a thousand girls educated. This is what comes after Class 10: a three-year program in English, computer applications and AI tools, paired with paid project work, so a Hikmat girl can build a livelihood from the education she has earned.

Ramnagar Block · West Champaran · Bihar
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01 The next question

A girl who clears Class 10 here has crossed the hardest barrier in her village — and then runs out of road.

She is literate, holds a board certificate, and has spent years in a school her family chose to trust. The honest answer to what happens next, today, is: not enough. College is far. Distance education is unstructured and rarely completed. Local work beyond agriculture is scarce.

The computer centre at her school — 25 desktops and laptops, internet, projectors in classrooms — is open to her, but only informally. There is no structured curriculum that takes her from Matric to a level where she can hold an entry-level digital job. She picks up fragments, and in too many cases waits at home until marriage. Her schooling stops paying off.

This program closes that gap. It is built on top of Hikmat's existing infrastructure and trust — no new buildings, no new computers — and pairs a structured course with a route into paid work.

02 Why now

The market for entry-level digital work has shifted decisively in the last two years.

What rural skilling still teaches

Typing speed, clicking through MS Office menus, basic data entry — the skills a decade-old labour market rewarded.

What the work needs now

A clear English email. Fluency in Docs and Sheets. AI tools used to learn, draft, summarise, and check one's own work. The window to teach this generation these skills — while the tools are maturing and the work is abundant — is open now.

1,000+
Girls educated since 2015
600+
Enrolled today
2
Schools in West Champaran
03 The training program

What we commit to, over three years.

A progressive course: foundational competence in Year 1, applied use and real project work Year 2 onward.

i

Functional English

Reading, writing, and speaking — enough to write a professional email, follow written instructions, and hold a basic conversation.

ii

Computer Applications

Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, file management, email, and online collaboration — to a level of working fluency.

iii

Practical AI Tools

Writing assistance, research, and basic automation — so girls leave fluent in the same tools workplaces are now built around.

iv

A Program That Lasts

Documented self-study material, repeatable processes, and tooling — so the program runs reliably and outlasts any single staff member.

v

A Path Into Work

Graduates who are genuinely ready for entry-level, digitally-enabled work — and a pathway that puts them into it.

04 How the program runs

Paced to learning, not to ambition.

Year 1 is held deliberately small, so the curriculum, the teaching rhythm, and the program tooling are properly tested before the cohort grows.

Year One
20 students

Establish the curriculum, teaching rhythm, and program tooling. Demonstrate completion and learning outcomes with a small, well-supported cohort.

Year Two
50 students

Scale the cohort once the system is repeatable. Cohort 1 graduates begin paid project work. The introductory module extends to younger students.

Year Three
75 students

Full operating scale, with an independent third-party review of outcomes. Across three cohorts, 145 girls will have completed the program.

Functional English

  • Reading — instructions and articles
  • Writing — emails, applications, short reports
  • Speaking — introductions, presentations, group discussion

Computer & AI

  • Docs, Sheets, Presentations, email, collaboration
  • File management and the open web
  • AI tools for writing, research, and basic automation
Run by 3 people, a Program Lead owning curriculum, classroom delivery, and learning outcomes, and 2 dedicated, on-campus Program Assistant teaching, handling coordination, scheduling, and day-to-day logistics. As cohorts grow, senior students peer-mentor newer ones, deepening their own learning and keeping the program workable as it scales.
05 From training to a livelihood

They graduate into work, not uncertainty.

Training only matters if it leads somewhere. From Year 2, an IT-services pathway takes on paid project work and pays the girls who deliver it. Cohort 1 graduates complete real client work under the Program Lead's supervision — the program does not end at the classroom door.

Year 2 — building quality discipline

Low-complexity, forgiving tasks: basic AI data work, spreadsheet cleanup, document digitisation and OCR review, and content support — product listings, tagging, and simple AI-aided copy-editing.

Year 3 — higher-skill work

Once quality is proven over a year, AI data-labelling for vetted vendors and chat-based customer support for small Indian e-commerce sellers.

Where the work comes from
  • Hikmat's existing partners and donor network, who can route suitable work into the program.
  • NGO and social-sector peers who need digitisation and back-office support from a mission-aligned partner.
  • Supporters in India and globally who run businesses and can introduce small, well-fit projects.
Graduates doing paid work are employed through a separate operating entity that Hikmat will establish — keeping client contracts, employment, and statutory compliance cleanly separated from the Foundation's program activity.
Girls working at the Hikmat computer centre, Meghwal Mathia
Hikmat Computer Centre · Meghwal Mathia
06 The people behind it

Stewardship with deep roots.

Hikmat is led and guided by people with decades of experience across public service, development, finance, education, and open-source community building.

Leadership
Gulrez Hoda
Gulrez Hoda
President & Managing Trustee

A 1977-batch IAS officer who spent more than twenty years at the World Bank Group and the IFC, with his final role directing infrastructure and natural resources across Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. He returned to India in 2013, served on the Bihar State Planning Board, and lives in his ancestral village of Lauriya Nandangarh in West Champaran.

Sana U. Hoda
Sana U. Hoda
President, Hikmat Foundation USA

Over twenty years in strategic communications, stakeholder engagement, and organizational growth across consulting, multinationals, and the nonprofit sector. Founder of the communications firm 12:Fourteen, she focuses on strengthening Hikmat's narrative, partnerships, and long-term sustainability.

Vishal Arya
Vishal Arya
Strategic Advisor & Program Lead

The first employee at FOSS United, where he spent around six years as Program Director leading the build of what is today India's largest open-source community, and where he now sits on the board. Born in Champaran and educated there through Class 10, Vishal returns home to lead this three-year commitment to the girls of West Champaran.

Advisory Council
Chandrasekhar Balagopal
Chandrasekhar Balagopal
Education & Enterprise

Former Chairman of the Board of Federal Bank and a former IAS officer. He founded Penpol, a pioneer in biomedical devices in India that grew — in partnership with Japan's Terumo — into one of the world's largest blood-bag makers. Today he mentors entrepreneurs and runs a trust supporting social initiatives.

Nishi Mehrotra
Nishi Mehrotra
Women & Girls' Empowerment

Managing Director of ERU Consultants, an interdisciplinary consultancy focused on women's and girls' empowerment, education, and child development across India, South Asia, and Africa. She formerly served as State Programme Director of the Mahila Samakhya Programme in Uttar Pradesh.

Shumsher K. Sheriff
Shumsher K. Sheriff
Public Service & Governance

A 1977 IAS officer who served as Secretary to two Vice Presidents of India and Joint Secretary to the President, and from 2012 to 2017 as Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha. He studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, and institutions in Geneva, Harvard, and France.