Ending months of speculation over what former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani would do after his loss in the Lok Sabha elections, it has now been learnt that the Infosys co-founder is betting big on education at the elementary level.
Nilekani is learnt to have started work on his pet project — a platform focused on elementary education that would act as a great equaliser offsetting social inequities. Though the project is in stealth mode, Nilekani is learnt to have hired a small team working on the ‘gamification’ of elementary education and developing relevant technology tools to attain scale.
The move also ends speculation over being drafted by the Karnataka government to help rebuild Brand Bengaluru. While the Siddaramaiah government has talked often about utilizing Nilekani’s expertise to recharge Bengaluru, no concrete proposal was made to him. Instead of getting embroiled in factionalized party politics, Nilekani seems to have decided to opt out of it altogether and focus his energies on the underserved education sector.
