Where the heart leads: In conversation with Unacademy Educator Praveen Kulkarni
An unconventional decision, a serendipitous moment and a supportive father led Praveen Kulkarni on the path to becoming one of the country’s favourite GATE & ESE Educators. To mark Unacademy’s fifth anniversary, we chronicle the journey of Top Educators such as Mr Kulkarni. Here’s his story.
In India, securing a government job has always been a prestigious feat. Even today, with the private sector flourishing, the demand for government jobs has only seen a steady increase. In addition to offering security and stability, a job in the public sector is also a matter of pride for the aspirant’s families and Top Educator Praveen Kulkarni explains that his family was no different. Mr Praveen’s father always dreamt for his son to be a Civil Servant and he, being a dutiful son, willfully mirrored that dream and worked towards it sincerely.
In 1999, Mr Praveen appeared for the Indian Engineering Services (IES) Examination for the very first time and secured an All India Rank of 39. In 2001, he reappeared and upped his ranking to 14. His achievements also led him to secure an admirable job at The Indian Ordnance Factory Services and The Military Engineering Services. “It’s funny how sometimes even after you achieve everything you’ve worked for, something seems to be missing. I was a Class One Officer. I had an enviable job and yet, I could sense something was amiss. I could not point what it was but I knew that my heart was not where it should be,” says Mr Praveen.
He carried this discontent with him until one fateful day he stumbled upon his passion purely by accident. It was December 19, 2001, the electricity was out in Mr Praveen’s house and he picked up a newspaper to kill time. He came across a small ad placed by a local coaching centre calling GATE & ESE Educators. “I saw the ad and something just clicked. Up until that point, teaching was not something I considered. I gave them a call casually and asked them if I could take one class,” says Mr Praveen.
The following week, he walked into the coaching centre and taught his very first batch of Learners. “There were 280 students and I took a session for 2 straight hours. When I sat down after those 2 hours, I felt exhilarated and I knew that my life would never be the same again.” While his decision was made, he had another challenge up ahead of him — to convince his family about his decision to quit Civil Services and take up teaching. “I was aware that it could draw criticism but my father stood by me. He trusted me and told me to follow my heart,” says Mr Praveen who till this day credits his father for helping him be relentless. Mr Praveen began his journey as an Educator by teaching just one subject in that very coaching centre.
Today, almost two decades later, Mr Praveen teaches around 10 key subjects, has his own coaching centre in Hyderabad and is a Top Educator at Unacademy. He is also the recipient of the National Merit Scholarship (NMS) and Telugu Vignana Paritoshakam (TVP). While Mr Praveen asserts that it was nothing but destiny that led him here, we believe that it was his willingness to follow his heart that set him up for success. Mr Praveen also believes that his decision to teach has led him to meet Learners who are now a part of his extended family. “That’s the thing with teaching. There is so much to gain,” says Mr Praveen, adding, “I have a special batch of 30 Learners. In addition to giving them coaching for their GATE & ESE Exams, I also give them training to become Educators. It is a noble profession.”
In the last two decades, Mr Praveen has experienced both, offline and online mediums of education. He believes that the later way of imparting education is the way forward. “Earlier, I was a little sceptical about online education but once I experienced it on Unacademy, I truly began believing in its power. It is especially beneficial for students who do not have the means or accessibility to travel to faraway places. Here, they can study from the best Educators easily,” says Mr Praveen admitting that choosing to become an Educator was the best decision he ever made.
Among the many memories that Mr Praveen cherishes, there is one in particular that he holds close. “ I was in Delhi in 2012, I took a class and I was almost about to sit in my car when some of the students came running and took my autograph. The crowd seemed puzzled because I was, an ordinary man, giving autographs so someone in the crowd asked the students, ‘is he a celebrity’ and the students said ‘yes’, he is our teacher. I will never forget this,” says Mr Praveen admitting that he’ll always choose to teach over other professions. “Teaching for me is life.”
At Unacademy, we cherish passionate Educators like Mr Praveen Kulkarni and we are indebted to them for helping us further our mission to democratise quality education. This interview is a part of our 5-part anniversary special blog series.
