Dilip Suthar’s journey with education began not with ambition, but with survival. Born into a well-to-do family in Gujarat, his childhood changed when his father became unwell and the family moved to Rajasthan. Growing up amid poverty, uncertainty and caste discrimination, Dilip dropped out of school as a young teenager and worked in Mumbai and later as a construction labourer. Years later, he returned to education, joined the Gandhi Fellowship and discovered a new purpose in HOPE Schools working with children who faced the same educational barriers he once did.
For Dilip, the journey from a child who struggled with basic learning to someone working to create better educational opportunities for children has been shaped by persistence, exposure and people who believed in him.
A Childhood Where Survival Came First
Dilip Suthar was born in Gujarat into what he describes as a financially comfortable family. But when he was around one-and-a-half years old, his father’s condition changed. He could no longer recognize his children and would sometimes physically abuse them.
His mother, who was not educated and did not know the local language, eventually took the children to Rajasthan, where the family struggled to survive. His relatives depended largely on the income from a single buffalo, while his mother began working in agricultural fields for around five rupees a day. The family lived in cattle shed, surrounded by animals, snakes and scorpions. From an early age, Dilip helped collect firewood from the Aravalli hills, looked after the family buffalo and contributed to household responsibilities.
School was not part of his plans. His mother eventually enrolled him and his brother after a government scheme offered families whose children attended school three kilograms of wheat and five litres of kerosene. For her, the scheme offered essential food and fuel that could make the family’s difficult life slightly easier.
But Dilip struggled with foundational learning. By Classes 2 and 3, he says he still could not write his name properly or count from one to three. Eventually, at around 13 or 14, he dropped out.
From Dropping Out To Starting Again
After leaving school, Dilip moved to Mumbai and began working with his uncle in furniture-making. He travelled between shops carrying tools such as saws, cutters and screwdrivers.
The crowded Mumbai local trains made the work difficult. Dilip recalls that tools would sometimes accidentally hurt passengers, and on several occasions, he was beaten.
He later went to Ahmedabad, where he tried to learn English and computers while managing work. But balancing the two proved difficult, and he eventually returned home. By then, his father had become more stable and found work as a labourer. Dilip joined him at construction sites.
It was during this period that Dilip encountered caste discrimination. He became friends with workers from communities that faced untouchability and discrimination, eating and spending time with them. When his relatives saw this, he says they stopped inviting him to weddings and told him he had become an “untouchable” for associating with people from those communities. The experience deeply affected him.
Dilip decided to return to school, pursue a government job and come back with a sense of achievement. He eventually reached college while working nights at PVR and studying during the day.
The Question That Opened A New Door
During his second year of college, someone asked Dilip to imagine completing three years of graduation but never receiving his degree because of an unforeseen circumstance.
The question shook him. For Dilip, the degree represented much more than a piece of paper. It was his route to employment, status and respect. He asked what he should do, and the answer introduced him to the Gandhi Fellowship. Despite struggling with English, Dilip applied and was selected.
The fellowship exposed him to a world he had never encountered before. He met people from institutions such as Lady Shri Ram College, TISS and Aligarh Muslim University. Coming from a rural background where he had little exposure to such opportunities, the experience dramatically expanded his understanding of education and the possibilities it could create.
It was also where he met Sakshi. When Sakshi explained that she worked with children who had dropped out of school or had never attended, Dilip immediately recognised himself in their stories.
He shared his own experience with her, and she invited him to work with her on Anubhuti. Dilip recalls that this was the first time someone had made him feel that he was capable of contributing to something meaningful.
Turning His Experience Into A New Understanding Of Education
Working with Sakshi helped Dilip transform his own experiences into learning. He says that after leaving school, he studied far more than he had during his formal education. He began reading about physics, science, chemistry and biology and developed professional skills through corporate work, particularly in sales and negotiation.
He also gained exposure through fellowships, international programmes and public policy learning opportunities. But the biggest lesson was understanding how much a child’s learning can change when they are encouraged to ask questions instead of simply memorising answers.
Dilip reflects on questions he never asked as a child: Why does one come after another? Why does one plus one equal two? Why are Roman numerals still taught?
For him, such questions are not distractions from learning. They are the beginning of deeper learning and can connect children to history, science and the origins of knowledge.
Building Hope For Children Like Him
Dilip’s experiences eventually shaped the thinking behind Hope, one of the programmes being developed through their organisation.
He believes children need more than access to a classroom. They need exposure, confidence, conceptual clarity and opportunities to understand the world beyond their immediate surroundings.
His vision includes teaching children values such as respect, empathy and responsibility alongside academic concepts. He believes even everyday lessons, such as caring for public spaces, managing waste, following traffic rules and respecting others, can contribute to a child’s development. His own life has shown him how exposure can expand a person’s horizons.
From a childhood centred around firewood, livestock, kerosene and uncertainty, Dilip eventually travelled internationally, participated in learning programmes and explored public policy and social-sector work. He sees this transformation as an example of what education and opportunity can make possible.
Creating Opportunities At The Grassroots
Today, Dilip and Sakshi’s organisation works across two states with around 12,000 out-of-school and dropout children and around 200 local youth. Its programmes include the Bridge Fellowship, EduSell and Hope School.
The Bridge Fellowship identifies local youth and develops them as education leaders. Fellows identify children aged six to 14 who are out of school or have dropped out, work with their families and support their return to government schools.
The approach also focuses on helping children remain within the education system rather than treating enrolment as the final goal.
For Dilip, this work is deeply connected to his own childhood. He knows what it means to enter school without a strong learning foundation, leave education early and discover opportunities much later.
The Logical Indian Perspective
Dilip Suthar’s story is not simply about overcoming personal hardship. It is also about how lived experience can shape the way someone understands education and social change.
As a child, he struggled to access meaningful learning. As a teenager, he left school and entered the workforce. Later, through determination, education, mentorship and opportunities such as the Gandhi Fellowship, he rebuilt his relationship with learning. Today, he is working to ensure that children facing similar circumstances get opportunities earlier in their lives.
For Dilip, education is ultimately about giving children the confidence to ask questions, understand their world and imagine possibilities beyond the circumstances they were born into. His journey has taken him from being a child who once struggled to write his own name to helping build a learning ecosystem for children who, like him, deserve the opportunity to discover what they can become.
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