Entrepreneurship is all about solving pressing and real problems of today’s society. What’s more relevant than education and how we want to innovate for future generations? Well, Ritu Jhaveri is on a mission to empower students through the magic of STEM.
Ritu’s journey has been full of learnings since arriving in Canada a couple of years ago. “ I’ve only been here for two and a half years. I knew I wanted to start a business. I used to work as a principal before that. So I had a business idea in mind, but when I was fresh off the boat in Canada, I didn’t know what, where to begin”. Sometimes, you can have the tools, the knowledge, but just don’t know where to start or who to reach out to.
Deschool is a STEM and sustainability education company. They connect school students to real-world scientists from emerging technologies, both virtually and in-school. They also co-create innovative in-school workshops and courses together with real world scientists to bring the classroom science concepts to life. In Ritu’s words: “ Changing a school curriculum or a state curriculum is no small task. It takes years”. Deschool’s vision really goes all the way in the long term.
“ However, right now, the curriculum that our students are studying in the school, no matter how much we try, can’t be kept updated with whatever’s going on outside, especially in the area of science and technology. It’s growing extremely quickly, extremely fast. So by the time our students graduate, there comes a knowledge gap between what’s taught in the classrooms and what they actually need to know about the world outside”. This social enterprise has been doing great improvements in the last 18 months hand in hand with Global Startups. Deschool is part of the new NEA Program cohort that started in September 2024 and runs until March 2025. They also were part of our SUV cohort a couple of years ago. “ Get yourself an incubator or an accelerator support, because it just, especially if you’re a first time founder like me, like I was the first time founder and had zero connections in the city or in the country. I’m a newcomer. We don’t even have family here. So when you’re starting from zero, it really helps having that support”.
Ritu and Deschool have come a long way to become a Canadian company. They are surely enjoying the benefits to establish as one. In the meantime, they are helping kids become the best version of themselves, one student at a time.
