How Raju Sangani Emerged From A Telangana Village To Set Up Over 100 Schools
Raju Sangani, the founder and chairman of The Masterminds Group of Schools in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, talks about his journey and mission.
For Raju Sangani, the founder and chairman of The Masterminds Group of Schools in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the desire to provide quality education is rooted in a very personal struggle. Born in a poor family in Telangana, he was a bright student, but found his opportunities limited by their lack of economic means. The generosity of a local landlord helped Sangani move onward, but plenty of challenges remained, and a resolve took root.
“From my experience, I understood the pain of affording quality education. Education still remains a luxury to many families and, as such, we are glad that we are able to help many such families realise their ambitions,” says Sangani.
The Masterminds Group of Schools is an academic institute with 100+ branches across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Sangani is credited with the establishment of over 450 schools across India that cater to lakhs of students.
The Masterminds group seeks to provide quality education to children from every section of society. Keeping in mind the balanced growth of students and faculty, the group focuses on making the campus more inclusive and gender-agnostic. The environment is kept dynamic through the timely introduction of emerging technologies, and advanced ways of teaching and learning, and dedicating more time to co-scholastic activities.
“It’s been a long journey since I started, but there is still a long way to go,” Sangani says. “The aim is to make quality education affordable to as many families as possible. My mission is still on…”
“My vision is to raise a generation of future-ready, good citizens who respect society and the family,” he adds, saying he doesn’t really “support people who blame the present education system” as being inefficient. “It is not the system that needs to be blamed. We also need… parents and educators to claim equal stake in it. They both should go hand in hand to execute the learning process perfectly.”
A Tough Journey
Talking about his growing-up years in rural Telangana, which was then united Andhra Pradesh, Sangani says, “My family used to do small errands for a landlord in our village. I still remember the day when my father lost his hand while attempting to repair a sugarcane crushing machine in the factory. That was the day our world turned upside down."
Being the eldest son, Sangani had to take on the family’s responsibility. “I never experienced normal childhood treats like toys or games. I used to do every possible work to keep my family from starving,” he adds, describing how they often slept to “forget the misery of hunger”.
Through it all, however, he remained an ace student, and a dilemma arose when it was time for him to pursue higher education. “Though I was the district topper in high school, I could not afford a college education. The dreams were big while the resources were almost nil…” he says. “The landlord of our village and his generous foreign friends were kind enough to sponsor my education. So, I migrated to the city with hopes for a better life, but their help was limited to paying the academic fees… Survival was again a question mark…”
Every day in the city was a struggle, he adds. “I have seen utter poverty with barely hand-to-mouth earnings. Incidentally, I became a teacher for livelihood, but even that was not a cakewalk for me. I was just 17 then. The major barrier was my language.
“Having come from a remote village, I had poor communication skills in English. I had to undergo a lot of change. I changed my disposition. I worked a lot towards it. Thanks to all those students of mine and their parents, it’s because of them I emerged a better teacher.”
This experience, Sangani says, is why he is “very much particular about communication skills in our schools”.
The subject Sangani took on to teach was maths, which he loved dearly. Even as his personal endeavour to improve his communication skills continued, his profile as a teacher grew. Students reportedly lined up to enrol in his maths classes, and he earned the nickname ‘Maths Raju sir’ in his neighbourhood.
‘Work Is Worship’
If Sangani could offer youngsters some advice, what would it be? “Don’t let finance become your sole motivation to achieve your goals, be excited every day, stick to your principles despite all the setbacks in life. Discipline, planning and prioritising tasks will play a major role in success,” he says.
“Work is worship... Hard work can bring you success even if you don’t have sufficient resources. But you can’t achieve success even with an efficient team if they are not giving the best and working up to their potential,” he adds.
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