Social Welfare

1. Introduction
My group selected this topic as we felt that dealing with students of weaker sections who are
unable to pass in the higher secondary (10th standard) Board Examinations can be solved by Design
Thinking methodology. This is an area of growing concern in our economy which has hasn’t
improved drastically even after implementation of several government schemes such as Mid-day
meal scheme and free education for girls and minorities. I feel that the weak point of these
programs is that they fail to touch or take notice of problems of the students at an individual level.
Any program at mass level cannot achieve “One size that fits all” level of superiority. Hence it
becomes a necessity that we deploy people to take care of the individual nuances of these students.
Design Thinking
Design thinking refers to creative strategies designers utilize during the process of designing.
Design thinking is also an approach that can be used to consider issues and resolve problems more
broadly than within professional design practice, and has been applied in business and to social
issues. For solving issues designers must think from a customer point of view and for which he
needs sufficient Emotional Intelligence. He needs to develop empathy and sort of immerse into
customer’s way of life so as to come up with solutions that meets his/her needs in a profitable
manner.
Goodand Bad experiences that I felt during the DesignThinking Course
Good Ones
I had a wonderful experience in the lecture session. It was different. It had music and timed tasks
to bring out the creative skills in us. We were supplied with the necessary craft tools to proceed.
Also I got to know my neighbor more deeply in terms of his perspectives on a wallet and beyond.
I interviewed children and their parents and guardians who are economically at disadvantage and
got to know about many of the problems that these students face on a daily basis which decreases
their likelihood to generate interest towards studies.
I performed a skit with my friends on the day to day activities of a poor student for which I got
the information from primary research. I could understand the nuances of his life and could relate
it to many instances of my childhood.
We saw a heartwarming video on Mother’s Love called Aai (meaning mother in Marathi), which
made me realize that there is nothing more absolute than a mothers love for his child.
Apart from knowledge about Design Thinking methodology to solve business problems I got to
know about several ways in which many businesses have implemented it successfully.

2. Also I got to know our Design Thinking Professor Dr. Subash Rastogi and many anecdotes from
his life and his experiences which will be useful for us in the journey ahead.
We also enjoyed the brainstorming sessions for generating various solutions for our problems
statement. In these intellectually stimulating sessions we got to know advantages and
disadvantages of several approaches to our problem.
Bad Ones
I realized the dire straits situation of several students of economically disadvantaged section of
our society. They are indeed sharp students who have not been nurtured in the right direction due
to various flaws in the system. In lay man terms they are unfortunate because they don’t have the
proper infrastructure and resources needed for a balanced childhood.
Conclusion
A great wise person once said:
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people
will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
I think this is how products and businesses will differentiate from others. This is how we can
make convert this zero sum survival competition into a positive sum game where everyone wins.
We are so much in the Inertia of winning that we feel easy to push others into brink of failure
without realizing the fact that we all win at the same time. This is where all business science fails
except Design Thinking Methods.