Background

When we speak about education, we cannot deny the enduring pedagogical and social pressures that students navigate. Traversing the fraught landscape of learning, children are privy to psychological ruptures that come to define their engagements in adulthood. Peering at statistical knowledge, especially a report published by the World Health Organization in 2021, we discovered that 13 percent of children all across the world suffer from some kind of mental health disorder. 

This raises a crucial question about not only the sustenance of psychological health among these populations but also prods us to dig deeper into the educational structures which become cataclysmic for the inner well-being of these students. To mitigate the loss of conducive learning in later stages, it is crucial to build structures that address the mental health concerns of growing children. Most traditional systems do not account for personal and social barriers that weigh upon the minds of these stakeholders, and therefore, it is essential that they find solace in platforms that help them cope with the rising stresses of social systems imbricated in meritocratic thinking. To compete within a capitalistic world, prioritizing structures of empathy is of utmost importance to establish an ethics of care for diverse learners within educational institutions. 

About the Project

Noticing these struggles in the lives of Indian students, Project ACE was established in January 2022 as a social initiative to aid them in navigating the multifaceted educational pressures afflicting their daily lives. Foregrounding conversations on academic stress and anxiety, the project aims to ameliorate the pressures caused by the need to flourish in competitive examinations and school boards. The impact-focused work of ACE prioritizes the well-being and educational outcomes of students from underserved backgrounds. 


Project ACE functions by suturing alternative educational resources such as modules to help navigate mental stressors with on-ground engagement through workshops, interviews, and fundraisers. At the heart of its foundation lies the dedication to community-focused engagement by pursuing dynamic collaborations with NGO partners as well as Indian educators, students, and parents.