Education Leaders | Top Interviews

From social anxieties and emotional issues to bureaucratic indifference and cyber burnout, the path towards quality engagement is too often marked with what are today referred to by experts as "abruptions"—unplanned interruptions that are obstacles to pace and motivation.

To gain more insight into this paradox of passion and disruption, Edinbox Intern Ananya Awasthi spoke with Ms. Pooja Sehgal, Principal of Kanpur's Kanya Kubja Public School, and experienced career counselor and educationist. In this honest interview below, she breaks down the math of youth participation in these times, peer and family network influence, and the need for mass-scale, comprehensive support networks that are able to equip young changemakers not just with their voice, but keep it.

Q1: Your views on the recent youth involvement in civic, political, and social life?

Ms. Sehgal: Young people aren't on the margins anymore—they're leading the revolution. Whether they're organizing about global warming or organizing social movements through the internet, they're redefining what it means to participate. They're a generation of native digital beings who can inherit the world and transform it with big ideas and a sense of fairness. Participation isn't something extra—it's how they live.

Q2: But this engagement isn’t always sustained. What causes disruption or what you’ve termed “abruption”?

Ms. Sehgal: From political to social activism, intellectual to cultural engagement, youth participation is authentic participation by young people in society's life. Participation is through one or more of a set of multiple entry points, but it is often interrupted by personal, emotional or social break points coming in between the ease with which young people get engaged into the social processes of their causes - we refer to it as "abruption."

Q3: What is the influence of peer networks and families in youth engagement?

Ms. Sehgal: Activism isn't an extracurricular activity anymore, it's a survival tactic. In India's 2025 Youth Civic Index report, *68% of 18 - 26 year olds* said they had participated in some kind of civic or social activity in the past year. From voter registration drives to campus demonstrations, content creation to community service volunteer programs, young people are changing what activism is and what participation means in the digital age.

Young people's involvement is neither linear nor innocent; it is often messy, affective, and relational. *The potential of peer networks and family connections* as bridges also become sources of peer pressure, judgments and exclusion if the balance is compromised.

The second approach is to construct *safe, inclusive and flexible ecosystems* where young people can feel heard, seen, and understood by peer and family members. Promoting critical thinking, rather than conformity; empathy, rather than expectation; and communication, rather than control on a continuous basis can better activate youth and abruption risk can be lessened.

As doubt builds and the necessity of youth voices becomes inevitable, we owe it to ourselves to keep an effort to involve them more - not only to start. 

Q4: How do we create settings that enable young people to flourish and remain interested?

Ms. Sehgal: Young people's participation is not a trend; it is at the heart of contemporary democracies. But with every great example of youth-led transformation, there is upheaval. Upheaval can derail progress but rarely will eradicate it completely.

Of particular importance is the response of families, the social media, and the institutions. Will they invest in this generation or shelf it? Will they sponsor or patronize? Will they let go and allow the youth to take over, or force them to fight for every inch of space?

Since we have more uncertainty ahead of us, it would seem there is an even better case than for resilience for intentional, intentional, and sustainable youth engagement. Because when youth thrive—not in spite of disruptions, but planned to thrive at worthwhile participation—society reaps the benefits in return.

Q5: Is youth participation sustainable in this world of disruptions?

Ms. Sehgal: Positive youth involvement in: political action, community building, education, expression and creativity, community service and community action, web activism. A measure of the overall democratic health of society and in fact a driver of social innovation.

Positive youth involvement can lead to:

Improved leadership abilities

Sense of identity and belonging

Civic responsibility

Educational and career prospects

Negative youth engagement can lead to disengagement or disillusionment (potential abruption) that can cause there to be other social pressures on the go, unmet expectations, or incentives because of mental burnout — typically peer groups and family systems.

By Ananya Awasthi

Japanese researchers have developed artificial blood, a substitute for natural blood. It is second-generation universal artificial blood and can be transfused to any blood group without pre-storing it in the fridge.

This technology will one day close one of the largest gaps in emergency medicine: instant access to blood type. There is a global shortage of blood supply overall, as reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This technology would be a financially highly rewarding device for the application of trauma medicine and may be applied in surgery as well as in the emergency department.

Japan's Nara Medical University is to conduct a clinical trial this year that will establish if donated blood and otherwise headed for the garbage bin after being used once can be recycled through being converted into synthetic red blood cells. Japan also dreams of being the first country to have artificial blood into real medical facilities in 2030 in case the trials do not turn out to be failures.

Since artificial blood is free from viruses and does not have the compatibility determinants (A, B, AB, or O blood groups), the blood can be transfused to any patient without cross-matching.

Artificial blood contains no viruses. The shelf life of artificial blood is as long as donated human blood.

Whereas the old blood has to be refrigerated and expires only weeks, this artificial blood can be kept years at room temperature and is therefore preferable to ship out to rural communities, following disasters, and even in times of war. 

HOW IT WORKS AND WHY IT MATTERS

It was designed by Japanese scientist Hiromi Sakai at Nara Medical University. The researchers created the medication by purifying haemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen in red blood cells, from old donor blood. 

They injected it into small globular clumps of fat which are duplicating the natural size of the red blood cells so the haemoglobin will be released safely around the body without causing an immune system attack.

"If transfusion is urgent, transfusion waiting time exists because the patient's blood type needs to be confirmed," quotes The Japan Times interview with Hiromi Sakai. "Because artificial red blood cells fall outside of blood types, transfusion therapy can be provided instantaneously."

Since the process kills cells and other immune system stimulants that would trigger a reaction or infection spread, reaction or infection spread is virtually zero.

The technology is in clinical trial phases, though preliminary results are encouraging.

The synthetic blood will not be able to remove the cross-typing to be type O blood and will last for years, two at room temperature and five if preserved ice.

Whereas actual donated blood itself is only viable for 42 days or so, approximately a month or so.

Initial human trials, in 2022, were said to have been completed successfully administering the artificial blood to healthy subjects without side effects, and the trial is now at higher doses phase (100-400 millilitres) to test its efficacy and tolerance, according to a report by Tokyo Weekender.

If everything works out, it should appear on pharmacy and emergency room shelves at hospitals by 2030, where it's difficult to store and ship normal blood.

If things go smoothly, Japan's artificial blood not only will ease some of the pressure from blood banks, but provide lifesaving transfusions quicker and more easily, any type or device

Students of the top institute, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, discuss their view regarding the significance of the CAT test compared to other options

Shakshi Sinha, Student, IIM Lucknow

My experience has been one of change, from being a soft-spoken, academically not-so-strong student to a self-assured person with the efforts of perseverance. After completing my Class XII in Commerce, I joined for a BCom in Patna Women's College, and initiated a project to establish a school for rural kids, enhancing my leadership potential. Understanding that there was room for improvement, I appeared for the CAT exam so that I could challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone. CAT is a prominent management entry test in India, being the door to the premier Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). Admission to IIMs is highly coveted because of their world-renowned faculty and extensive alumni network.

Preparation for the CAT honed my problem-solving capabilities and gave me discipline worth its weight in gold during my MBA tenure. IIM Lucknow admission brought me to an educational world of possibilities, where I educated myself to solve business issues through strategic thinking and the convergence of imagination and fact-driven decision-making. This exposure solidified the foundation for my internship at Pidilite Industries, where I worked on actual issues and got to work with industry specialists. What I educated myself through at IIM Lucknow helped in procuring this internship and a pre-placement offer (PPO), affirming my marketing career.

L Shruti, Student, IIM Lucknow

CAT is a dream of many aspirants seeking to target IIMs or top business schools. Each aspirant has personal reasons to do an MBA, some with work experience in hand seek faster growth follow corporate careers or change their field or industry.

I had always aspired to pursue management and get into a corporate setup or at least think of entrepreneurship down the line, I joined IIM Lucknow as a fresher after completing my BBA from IIM Rohtak. IIMs are always mentioned as premier institutes, but there are also colleges like the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Management Development Institute (MDI) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) that have their own tests. It is difficult to get into older IIMs, but CAT scores give admission to other deserving MBA colleges. CAT is an aptitude test that tests mathematical, logical, and verbal skills, along with time management, decision-making, and the pressure-handling skill.

Some skills are inherent, but all can be acquired through practice. The two-stage selection process, involving interviews and Written Ability Test (WAT), is integrative and tests personality traits for suitability as managers. The diversity of backgrounds in IIMs opens up exposure to diverse experiences and learning opportunities.

Harsh Gupta, 19 years old from Maharashtra's Kalyan town took his failures as an inspiration and broke myths to secure a place at Roorkee's IIT. This is not a tale of brilliance in studies; this is a tale of determination, illness, poverty, and resistance.

Son of a street food vendor, Santosh Gupta, Harsh lives in the densely populated two-roomed chawl of Thane district with his parents, grandmother, and two younger brothers. The family supported by its modest earning had no access to facilities or information regarding high-end schools like IIT. Harsh did not even know about IIT until before his Class 10 boards, during the Covid-19 lockdown. His educational path since then has been anything but smooth.

He flunked Class 11, which led to a verbal thrashing by family and self-doubt. But Harsh never gave up. He, instead, regained confidence, returned to Class 11, passed Class 12 with merit, and scored 98.9 percentile in JEE Main. He even cracked JEE Advanced and got admission at IIT Roorkee on second attempt.

Harsh attributes most of his change to Motion Education, a Kota coaching institute where he got stern academic guidance and counseling. "There were times when I was exhausted physically and mentally. But Motion never lost belief in me. They believed in me even when I had so myself," Harsh asserted.

His professional life too was shadowed by medical hardship. He suffered from Rectal Prolapse, an intermittent, ever-present aching syndrome that prevented him from studying with successive hospitalizations. Apart from this, Harsh also experienced personal tragedy in the loss of his near and dear ones at critical exams.

Though all the challenges, he was not dissuaded. His dream and sacrificial spirit of his family pushed him to work even more diligently. He would read for 12 hours a day and would work part-time to support his brothers' education. "Dreams are meant to be big and so is the effort you have to make to chase them," he promises.

Harsh's story is not his. It is the story of hundreds of shattered dreams, broken attempts, and still getting up again—humiliated by the power of faith, imagination, and unbreakable will.

What does one do when a fat-checked startup, backed by top VCs and based on a high-impact cause, fails to cut it? IITian Harsh Pokharna, now a CEO, just took to Instagram to talk about the tough lessons he had learned after a health-tech startup in which he had invested shut shop. His brutally frank rehash has since been passed around, not necessarily due to its candor, but because it makes it seem so easy for whoever is attempting to gain entry into India's notoriously recalcitrant health care market.

He mentioned that he had invested in the health-tech venture in 2020. The venture was meant to be a cancer hospital aggregator, with an online platform offering patients the amenity to look for treatment options, consult oncologists online, and make a decision on where to get treated. With more than $7 million in investors on board and 25,000+ monthly users and more than 1,000 unique cancer patient leads as organic growth, the start-up had all the makings of a high-growth business. But even with these figures, it was unable to succeed. "We really believed that hospitals would recognize the value in owning or partnering with a company like this," Pokharna wrote. "But that did not pan out either."

Key takeaways that he learned

Pokharna states that the failure was not a result of the absence of vision or execution—it was structural reality in Indian healthcare. In his post, he enumerated three main takeaways that founders (and investors) should remember:

- Hospitals have all the negotiating power

To Harsh, aggregator websites are wonderful on paper but end up being entirely at the mercy of hospitals. They hold payments outstanding, ignore contracts, and consume any margin on compliance and collection fees. Hospitals do not need middlemen at all.

Digital-only does not work (yet)

The Indian consumer will not pay for healthcare services online, says Harsh. Online technologies are great at generation but do not know how to run a business.

Offline is required—and costly

Indian customers still value offline bookings and brick-and-mortar centres. But offline infrastructure is a Hercules task. It takes 12–24 months for a centre to breakeven and has massive initial expenses, states Pokharna. If a startup lacks the ability to make offline investments at scale, it is stuck.

His takeaway of the day?

For Pokharna, the take-away lesson is straightforward but ominous: healthcare startups wishing to be aggregators tread a thin edge. Without influencers and differentiators, they will be feeble middlemen—with zero margins, no survival, and no respite. He warned that building an aggregator-only firm in Indian healthcare is a gambler's offer. Unless there are smart solutions to the structural ills in the sector, founders will be dead certain to fail.

As Pokharna himself would categorically mention, it might be a good pitch deck, but beware lest it be business suicide.

The tale of an extremely well-educated individual turned food delivery rider in China has become a flashpoint, with the country embroiled in a debate concerning the jobs market in China and the degree to which educational qualifications count.

On Chinese social media, 39-year-old Ding Yuanzhao was called "the best-educated food delivery worker" after it was revealed that he is an alumnus of some of the world's most renowned universities, including Oxford University.

A man from the southeastern province of Fujian, Ding began his academic pursuit when he had nearly 700 out of a maximum of 750 marks in China's high-stakes college entrance examination, Gaokao, in 2004. That earned him admission into Tsinghua University, and he graduated with a degree in chemistry, South China Morning Post quoted news portal 163.com as saying.

He then went on to take a Master's degree in energy engineering at Peking University and a PhD in biology at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. His education did not end there as he also took a Master's degree in biodiversity at the UK's University of Oxford.

Prior to changing his career path, Ding was also a postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore. However, when his contract ended in March 2024, he was not able to be employed even after attending over 10 job interviews. 

Due to his double commitments, Ding became a food delivery rider in Singapore where he made about SG$700 (about Rs 46,859) per week cycling for 10 hours a day.

"It's a secure job. You can feed your family from the income. If you struggle, you will make it. It's not bad work," Ding said in a social media post, the article said.

Also, he added a personal incentive to his new regimen: "One benefit of food delivery is that you can get your exercise in too."

A committed marathon runner and believer in staying optimistic, Ding had these words of advice to share: "If you have not had good results, do not be disheartened or demoralized. If you have performed well, remember that not much of people's work contributes significantly to the larger scheme of things."

Ding Yuanzhao, meanwhile, has returned to China and is a food delivery person for Meituan in Beijing.