BENGALURU:Class X and X II, SSLC and PUC exams have gotten just over and results are expected to be out in the next few days. Did not do well in exams or confused about what to do next? Here' a piece of advice from entrepreneur, author and influencer Varun Agarwal: To build a fantastic career that you are passionate about, grades don’t matter.
To prove people that grades are not important and to teach youngsters skills and demystify careers, Varun has come up with a startup
‘Grades Don’t Matter’. He claims that this is India’s first online alternative educational platform. Varun, along with a 15-member team, has created over 300+ video lessons and over 30+ hours of alternative educational content. Varun says, “Grades Don’t Matter is an attempt to change the way education system works in India. Figuring out the desired field of interest is one of the most challenging tasks. Grades Don't Matter aims to educate users on how to ideate, develop a systematic approach to practical learning, and help them sharpen their skill set in the desired field of interest. To bridge the gap between degrees and skills, we conceptualised Grades Don’t Matter. Also, it’s high time we revamp the education system in India.”
It was during his speeches Varun realised that youngsters have a lot of ideas, but lack a platform to channelise the same. “I understood that everybody wants to do something but they don’t know what to do. India is not a self-research-based society. They want people to come to you and tell you. And I also found out that if I get regular people to say it, they won’t take it. So, I got on board the best from different industries, convinced them to shoot for Grades Don’t Matter,” he adds.
The team has spent 3 months with an Attention Disorder Specialist to figure out how the videos should be, so that people won’t zone-out and leave the content. For now, only phase one of the app has been launched. “The idea is to inform and educate about the career options in phase 1. In phase 2, to launch more courses while teaching actual skills, and in phase 3 is to connect the dots and help students build career out of their passion,” he adds. Varun says, “While most careers expect you to have good grades, you’ll be surprised to know there are more than 2,000 career options for which you don’t need grades. With 2,000 courses in hand, we want to show India that there is life beyond academics,” he signs off.The app went on to reach the top five in education category on the App Store in less than six hours of its launch.
Alternative career topics in the app:
Filmmaking, creating a webseries, novel writing, producing a film, entrepreneurship, indie music, fashion blogging, illustration, starting a
patisserie, emceeing, standup comedy, photography, improv, artist management, food blogging, beat boxing, radio jockeying, startup and more.
The influencers:
Sanjay Manakatala, Biswapati Sarkar, Amish Tripathi, Nitesh Tiwari, Siddharth
Roy Kapur, Kubra Sait, Raghu Dixit, Alicia Souza, Pooja Dhingra, Saad Khan, Arjun
Kamath, Darius Sunawala, Vineeth Vincent and more
How the app works
The app can be downloaded from both Android and iOS platforms for ` 99 per course. “That’s because I want to tell people that good content is not free. This is also one of the reasons why we don’t have great content here,” he says. The videos will be available for unlimited viewing and users can choose their field of interest. PDF workbooks can be downloaded and if luck has it, one might even get a chance to intern with their influencer! Students will also get a digitally signed certificate from the influencer after the completion of the course.