Mr. Manish Dhiman was a young musician with dreams of traveling the country when he came to Ganeshpuri and discovered Learning Space Foundation. As a volunteer in 2005, he found that the students were not completely attentive and were too shy to participate actively in their learning.

       Together with Michael Turner, Manish developed the innovate English language teaching techniques that are still used in Learning Space schools today. Manish and Michael realized that by using music and technology to approach subject material in a new and creative way, they could elicit active engagement from students in the classroom. Children were quickly able to overcome their shyness when they were singing and watching videos, rather than just answering written questions. Together, they wrote songs for the children and took them to Mumbai to record an album, Peaceful Stars, which is still used in classrooms today.

       English education is an immense cause of inequality between rural and urban schools, especially when neither the teachers nor the students are comfortable conversing in English. Manish helped LSF to train hundreds of village teachers from all around the district in the LSF English e-Teach program, which provides support to the teacher in the form of lesson plans that incorporate video material to meet student learning outcomes. With greater familiarity and confidence in the English language, students have opportunity to expand their horizons, including completing higher education.

         Although Manish once dreamed of being a famous musician, he has newfound goals which include helping children in the village of Ganeshpuri. He says Learning Space helped him discover himself quoting “Learning Space is where you learn yourself.”