SMILE project launched near IIM-A flyover

AHMEDABAD: Members of IIM Ahmedabad community along with Wagh Bakri Group inaugurated SMILE centre below IIM flyover on Thursday afternoon. The centre will engage IIM students with children from underprivileged background who come from various slum areas.
The centre was inaugurated by Piyush Desai, chairman of Wagh Bakri Group, Ashish Nanda, director of IIM-A, along with professors Rakesh Basant and Anil Gupta.
SMILE stands for Student Mediated Initiative for Learning to Excel, where currently 89 students from class VIII to XII are studying under the guidance of seven teachers, three research associates and 38 IIM students for two-and-a-half hours on daily basis.
Vineet Rao, project coordinator and final year IIM student, said that they have learnt a lot from the students in the process. Prerna Desai and his brother Harsh, students of Thaltej Municipal School, are two success stories from the centre where they have reached national and regional levels of science fairs respectively with their projects this year.