“I come from a family, which has undergone situations where we had to suffer, to even get the right education. This is the reason I wish to create awareness in children about their right to education” says Praneetha Reddy Katakam, who is currently pursuing her MSW(Master of Social Work) at the Osmania University, where she is considered to me one of the most active individual, who has secured recognition from people in and around the city.

As she introduced herself, Praneetha was born in a family with lot of financial struggle to stay sustainable. Hence, she happened to stay in her grandmother’s place till she completed her 4^th grade, after which, she was forced to move to a government aided school, which also had its hostel, where the family had to only pay a partial amount of the fee and the rest of the expenses would be taken care of, by the government. She hated staying in the hostel, due to the environment, which did not allow her to stay peaceful and hence, she would call her mother to take her back home, but, her family’s status did not allow this to happen. Praneetha was shifted to another school for her 10^th grade, but, failed to score good marks since, she had no proper facilities to study well, although, she somehow cleared her examinations. After her 10^th grade, Praneetha was made to choose mathematics, physics and chemistry as her core subjects. Although she was not interested, she was forced to study these subjects, since that was the time, when engineering was considered to be the field which has the highest scope. She couldn’t cope up with the subjects and hence, had to change her main subjects to civics, economics and commerce. By then, she had already lost a year. Once again, she couldn’t score good marks and hence, she decided to quit and not study anymore. Therefore, she started working with various companies as a tele-caller, gift vouchers enroller and more such jobs.

Her uncle, Late. Br. Ravi Kumar Reddy, who had completed his M.Sc, inspired Praneetha to study further and made her realise the importance of education. He also decided to support her financially and then, Praneetha chose to pursue BSW(Bachelor of Social Work), as suggested by one of her brother. During her course of BSW, she lost her grandfather, who was a source of inspiration for her to understand the importance of social work. While he was sick at the hospital, Praneetha would take care of him during nights and study during the day time and in her college, but happened to see him die, in spite of all the treatments. She still believed that he was present in her, through her action in serving the society. She completed her BSW with an aggregate of 75 percent, making her family proud. Her uncle inspired her to continue with higher studies and she decided to pursue her Masters in Social work.

She wrote her entrance test for the Post Graduation course and fortunately, her hard work paid off, when she secured 75^th rank amongst the whole crowd of the Osmania University, who attempted the examination. While she was waiting for her college to start, she happened to read about an interesting initiative on social media and she immediately got connected to the lady who had posted the writeup. That was when she got to know about the initiative of iUY2C - Youth 2 Children, which inspires the youth to reach out to government schools to motivate the children on various aspects like higher education, positive attitudes, health and hygiene. Praneetha was deeply connected with the vision, due to her experience from school days. She volunteered to reach out to various government schools where she inspired the kids, which resulted in making them better individuals. Meanwhile, Praneetha improved her knowledge and enhanced her skills to communicate to people of different ages. She was also inspired by the founder of iU(Inspiration Unlimited), Mr, Sujit Lalwani, International Speaker, whom she desired to meet, but, her mentor prepared her mentally to deserve and not desire. There were a lot of struggles, when her relative was admitted in hospital, because of which she was worried if she could continue volunteering. “I had to take him to hospital for almost for a month, since he stayed with my family. It was hard for me to achieve my target, but, my mentor Kavyashree ma’am encouraged me and supported me at every step to reach my target. Her calls were like an energizer for me to do more. I would walk for 4 to 5 kilometers every day since there were no transportation medium to travel to the schools. Finally, I was tagged the National Record Holder of iUY2C, for having executed more than 75 sessions in 65+ schools in a matter of 35 days. Thanks to iU and my mentor for this amazing opportunity” she says. Then, she continued to pursue MSW at Osmania University where she was ultra confident of representing herself in the best way possible. Her experiences of teaching thousands of children had made her a confident individual. She continued to stay connected to her mentors and her efforts led her to be chosen one amongst the six people from across the country to be a part of the World Merit India Council, where she represented the youth of the whole of the nation in the global platform of World Merit - a platform that connects talented youth with opportunities and focused on creating a positive change. She continued to grab every opportunity that came her way, and attended various conferences, where she got to meet personalities like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. She recently attended a conference that was based on Community Driven Development, where she represented the country amidst participants from other countries like Italy, Srilanka, Nepal. She has volunteered for various other organizations like ELCO and Akshara Sadan. Her involvement also got her the opportunity to mentor the delegates of i3, an International Platform that helps youth to help build a good career for themselves.

Amidst a lot of youngsters who step back, when they are asked to work on issues in the society, Praneetha wishes to help the society in a better way. IUeMagazine congratulates her and wishes her ‘all the very best’ to continue achieving her goals, for the betterment of the society!