PENCIL BEATS STUDIO
Democratising excellent STEAM education for every child in Jharkhand so they have the power to choose their own carrer
INNOVATION FUNDING GRANT 2025 Winner
Pencil Beats Studio
Pencil Beats Studio is democratising AI, Data Literacy, Digital Media & Applied Entrepreneurship for triple-marginalised students (Class 5–10) in Jharkhand through activity-led, inclusive microschool learning that builds real skills, visible portfolios, and genuine agency.
THE CHALLENGE: The Jharkhand Education Landscape
Foundations Are Broken
Foundations Are Broken
Foundations Are Broken
Only 32% of Class 5 students can read Class 2 level text (ASER 2023). Learning plateaus sharply by middle school not because children stop trying, but because the system stops meeting them.
Schools have no STEAM
Foundations Are Broken
Foundations Are Broken
Fewer than 40% of schools have functional science labs. Exposure to AI, data, and applied STEAM is nearly absent (UDISE+ 2021–22). Children are being prepared for a world that no longer exists.
Digital Divide is REAL
ASPIRATION Collapses at Class 8
ASPIRATION Collapses at Class 8
Only 18% of rural households have a computer. Fewer than 25% of children access digital learning (NSSO 2020). The digital divide is not just about devices — it is about who gets to imagine a future in tech.
ASPIRATION Collapses at Class 8
ASPIRATION Collapses at Class 8
ASPIRATION Collapses at Class 8
After Class 8, disengagement rises sharply not from lack of ability, but from low relevance and zero visibility of modern pathways. Many children stop dreaming before anyone ever showed them what was possible.
WHY WE EXIST(PENCIL BEATS STUDIO)
Rebuild the Foundation
Bring the Future Into the Classroom
Bring the Future Into the Classroom
Rebuild the Foundation Before AI and data, students need applied maths, communication, and critical thinking taught through hands-on activities that connect learning to life.
Bring the Future Into the Classroom
Bring the Future Into the Classroom
Bring the Future Into the Classroom
AI Literacy, Data Literacy, Digital Media & Applied Entrepreneurship. The skills driving the next decade of DEMAND taught from Class 5 onwards.
Close the Digital Divide
Restore Ambition Before It Dies
Restore Ambition Before It Dies
Through guided, hands-on digital learning every student becomes a creator, not just a consumer. Technology is no longer someone else's tool.
Restore Ambition Before It Dies
Restore Ambition Before It Dies
Restore Ambition Before It Dies
We work with students in Class 5–10 , the critical window before pathways narrow. Our job is to make sure no child reaches Class 8 believing the future doesn't belong to them.
Who We Are: Our North Star - Pencil Beats Studio
Pencil Beats Studio is a space democratising STEAM specifically AI & Data Literacy, Digital Media and Applied Entrepreneurship by bringing it into everyday learning for triple-marginalised students facing intersectionality, of std 5-10 in Jharkhand.
These sessions are totally inclusive and activity-led where we are transitioning from irrelevance to relevance, passive compliance to agency, one-size-fits-all to customisation to actually inculcate 21st century concepts from an early age, democratising mainstream job opportunities to climb out of poverty, and to use that understanding of their community from a systems lens to become changemakers.
Born from three years of ground-level work through our earlier initiative Pathshala, PBS is now an Innovation Funding Grant Winner (2025), currently running Pilot 1 across live batches of 60 Marginalised students in Ranchi with mentorship from The Circle India and ISDM Bricolage.
VISION / NORTH STAR :- By 2045, every marginalised child in Jharkhand will have equal access to Relevant STEAM Education (AI, Data, and Digital skills ) and the power to climb out of poverty and choose their own career.
WHAT WE DO (Pencil Beats Studio)
Pencil Beats Studio runs a 1.5-year, three-phase, activity-led learning journey designed from scratch for students who have been failed by every existing system.
We don't add a subject. We rebuild the entire learning experience making it relevant, applied, PEER Learning and student-led. Every student who graduates holds a real portfolio, real skills, and a real path forward.
Phase 1 Foundation · 3 Months Applied Maths, Communication & Critical Thinking. We build the floor before we build the future.
Phase 2 STEAM Pathways · 15 Months AI Literacy · Data Literacy · Digital Media Child thinks first. Tech helps second.
Phase 3 Capstone · 3 Months Real problems. Real solutions. Real portfolios. Students pitch, present, and graduate with proof of what they can do.
Closing line They enter with no pathway. They leave with one.
Scale Vision: Designed to be replicated, ensuring every needy child in Jharkhand has access to this pathway by 2040.
The Pilot (INNOVATION Funding GRANT WINNER :2025)
PILOT 1 · LIVE Ranchi, Jharkhand · Dec 2025 – May 2026
60 marginalised students. Zero prior exposure. Real results.
Attendance 40% → 90%+
AI Literacy Zero to basic prompting in 4 months
Digital Skills From never touching a device to creating posters, videos & presentations Community Signal Parents noticed change at home : kids speaking English, excited before class
Mentored & funded by The Circle India · Innovation Funding Grant 2025
Up Next · Pilot 2 · June 2026 150+ Marginalised students :Same model. Bigger reach.
About the Founder: SHUBHAM KR
From Techie to ChangeMaker:Engineering Social Change
- 4+ years corporate experience as a Software Engineer at TCS, BYJU’S & Learning INC
- Hails From Ranchi,Jharkhand,Founded VFL Bharat at age 21, transitioning full-time into development work
- 5+ years in education & social entrepreneurship
- Led 1,000+ community events, 750+ learning sessions, 15+ CEP programs
- Mobilised 3,000+ young people across underserved communities
- Raised ₹5+ lakhs through social enterprise initiatives
- Founded Pencil Beats (democratising STEAM via AI, Data & Applied Entrepreneurship)
- Founded Taam Jhaam (impact-focused social enterprise lab)
- Founded BlazeX Fellowship (2-year part-time youth teaching fellowship)
- 100% Scholar at ISDM
- Featured on DD National, Dainik Bhaskar, ETV, and other platforms
- Recipient of the Innovation Funding Grant 2025, National Builders Award, and Indian School Awards
CORE TEAM & STRATEGIC ADVISORY BOARD (De-risking the Pilot)
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
Project Mentor( AI & STEAM PEDADOGY) Senior Software Engineer & AI Specialist ,Oracle ,EX:Amazon
Guest Speaker & Judge ,MIT ,
Feautued in NEW YORK Times Square
PREETI MATTHEW
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
Project Mentor
Senior Manager, Knowledge Management & Dissemination - Rainbow Homes
( 19+ Years Exp,)
SAURABH RAI
ABHISHEK CHOURASIYA
SAURABH RAI
Project Mentor VP(System Adoption), Medha
(20+ Years Exp. in Development Sector)
SAMIA ISLAM
SUMAIYA AFTAB
SAURABH RAI
(Educator – Digital Media)
St. Xavier’s | Finance & Data
APOORV HARSH
SUMAIYA AFTAB
SUMAIYA AFTAB
(Educator – Data Literacy)
MBA | Finance Professional
SUMAIYA AFTAB
SUMAIYA AFTAB
SUMAIYA AFTAB
(Educator - AI Literacy)
AMU | Professional Teacher
MUSKAN K.
Zaina Khan
Zaina Khan
(School Management)
ISRO (Ex-Intern) | Forensic Science
Zaina Khan
Zaina Khan
Zaina Khan
(Educator - AI Literacy)
St Xavier's | Professional Teacher
NITI S.
Zaina Khan
NITI S.
(Lead -Resource Strategy )
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER, MBA
Institutional Backing & Strategic Mentorship
The Circle India : Innovation Funding & Strategic Mentorship
The Circle India : Innovation Funding & Strategic Mentorship
The Circle India : Innovation Funding & Strategic Mentorship
The Circle India's Innovation Funding Grant 2025 gave Pencil Beats Studio the resources and mentorship to move from concept to a live, running pilot. Their continued guidance shapes everything from our pedagogy to our scale strategy. "The Circle didn't just fund us. They believed in us when the model was still finding its form.
ISDM Bricloge – Continuous Support & Institutional Strength
The Circle India : Innovation Funding & Strategic Mentorship
The Circle India : Innovation Funding & Strategic Mentorship
We extend our gratitude to the ISDM Bricloge team for their consistent and foundational support.
Their role spans refinement, networking, strategic guidance, and problem-solving, ensuring the quality and longevity of our model.
ORGANISATION'S JOURNEY: Our Path to Pencil Beats Studio
Pencil Beats Studio is the flagship project of the VFL Bharat Welfare Foundation, built upon a foundation of established impact, legal integrity, and a proven track record of community engagement since 2020.
Our Journey & Milestones (2020–2025)
Pencil Beats Studio is the flagship initiative of VFL Bharat Welfare Foundation , built on 5 years of ground-level work, legal integrity, and a proven track record of community engagement since 2020.
2020–2022 · Building the Foundation We started from zero in Ranchi. No external funding. Just conviction and community trust.
Over two years we built real operational depth :3,000+ youth engaged as volunteers and interns 750+ learning sessions delivered with children 1,000+ community programs executed 15+ Corporate Exposure Programs conducted
This period didn't just build numbers. It built the relationships, credibility, and community understanding that everything else stands on.
2022 · The Turning Point We walked into a shelter home and met 100+ children who had never heard the words "AI," "data," or "career pathway" , not because they lacked curiosity, but because no one had ever thought those words belonged to them.
That experience launched Pathshala , our first structured education intervention. Three years of ground-level work followed. The model was tested, challenged, and refined session by session, child by child.
2025 · From Pathshala to Pencil Beats Studio Three years of learning became a structure. Pathshala evolved into Pencil Beats Studio . a formal, two-year STEAM microschool model designed for triple-marginalised students of Class 5–10 in Jharkhand. In the same year, PBS was selected as the Innovation Funding Grant Winner 2025 by The Circle India.
December 2025 · Pilot 1 Goes Live
Recognition & Partnerships
Our work is validated by major partnerships and national accolades.
- Collaborations: Amazon, Hero, TCSC, Amar Chitra Katha, RFI, HOV ,The Circle & many more.
- Awards: Proud recipients of the Nation Builder Award, the prestigious Innovation Funding Grant 2025, and recognition from the Indian School Awards.
- Media: Featured on DD National, India Today, Dainik Bhaskar, ETV and other prominent media outlets.
Legal & Governance
- Registered Entity: VFL Bharat Welfare Foundation, registered on 08 May 2023 under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
- Registration Details: CIN: U88900JH2023NPL020454 · Registration No.: 020454
- Mission: A registered Social Purpose Organisation, working across the high-impact domains of Microschooling & Social Enterprise
Other Projects
BlazeX Fellowship (Building Future Educators)
Taam Jhaam :(Social Enterprise for Sustainability)
Taam Jhaam :(Social Enterprise for Sustainability)
A paid, part-time education fellowship that equips high-potential youth to shaping classrooms & communities.
Impact: 20+ fellows in Cohort 1; Cohort 2 launching soon.
Taam Jhaam :(Social Enterprise for Sustainability)
Taam Jhaam :(Social Enterprise for Sustainability)
Taam Jhaam :(Social Enterprise for Sustainability)
We make. We learn. We sustain.
Taam Jhaam is our social enterprise arm built to generate its own revenue, fund Pencil Beats Studio, and keep costs as low as possible for every marginalised student we serve.
But it does more than sustain. Students don't just learn entrepreneurship they live it. Taam Jhaam gives them real, hands-on experience in the actual market. This is where the classroom meets the real world.
The goal is simple , a model that runs, sustains, and scales on its own. So no child is ever turned away because the funding ran out.
