UCatapult Foundation is pioneering India's first ed-tech platform exclusively for secondary and senior secondary students from rural and tribal backgrounds, bridging critical educational gaps through our Digital Machaan program. We deliver live curriculum-based sessions in regional languages, equip students with Android laptops to ensure digital access, and provide tailored mentorship in career counseling and scholarship opportunities, all in close partnership with government and community stakeholders. With your support, we are enabling passionate young learners to achieve educational success and uplifting entire families and communities for a brighter, more equitable future.
Detailed breakdown of how we support every student from foundation to graduation
Our subject experts facilitate real-time online classes for learners of classes 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Zilla Parishad schools of Maharashtra who join us with laptops and mobiles from their homes, hostels, and schools.
During the evening session, discussion happens in a small group, which makes it possible for learners to answer more queries and provide feedback. Hence, making engagement effective for learners.
Learners receive recorded sessions, daily homework, and chapter-wise worksheets in both Marathi and English to cater to the linguistic needs of both languages.
With the assistance of IIT Powai volunteers, a mentorship program known as the buddy program is promptly organized to assist our learners with subjects like time management, communication, creativity, teamwork, community awareness, etc.
Class 12 students are contacted by the scholarship specialist to apply for various scholarship programs, college admission, etc.
Teachers' and students' WhatsApp community channels are used for all forms of communication pertaining to classes, resources, and meetings.
The organization finds that every learner should get an opportunity to bloom completely. All they require, a loving and caring environment to grow to their full potential. With this commitment, for our live virtual classes, teachers get time and space to design their classes as per the learners' setting for effective live learning to happen. There is an utmost sense of love, respect, and faith among the team members as well as for the students who join us. We are continuously learning and evolving in our mission to reach and support rural learners.
In partnership with Bihar government school teachers and a local NGO, an initiative was started on March 26, 2020, with the goal of empowering educators through its first enablement session. Later, the program turned its attention to the students. On October 2, 2020, approximately 65 students from classes 6 and 8 participated in the first virtual class, marking a significant milestone. Reading English stories was the main focus of the alternative school class.
We started our Maharashtra chapter in September 2022 and started training teachers in digital literacy. In partnership with an NGO that works with farmers, we progressively onboarded ten Zilla Parishad schools, five of which were in the Beed district and five of which were in the Jalgaon district.
In 2023-24, the UCatapult Foundation significantly expanded its collaborations. It partnered with local government officials in the Jalgaon and Dharashiv districts of Maharashtra to onboard Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools. A major milestone was the launch of a STEM literacy program in collaboration with the government, providing 9,000 STEM books to 100 schools. The foundation also completed its incubation with NSRCEL/IIM Bangalore and was selected for the Women Startup Initiative. Other collaborators included Pratham Books for the STEM library project and various NGOs for community work.
In 2024-25, we collaborated with the District Collectors of Nandurbar and Jalgaon, successfully onboarding 106 and 53 government and government-aided Ashramshala schools onto our digital platform, respectively. In collaboration with Pratham, we also distributed 10,500 Marathi language storybooks to 206 Ashramshala schools and awarded 26 Android laptops to deserving students in classes 9 and 10.
