For Chennai-based twins Harpita and Harpith Pandian, known as “The Great Australian Spelling Twins”, learning is a constant process. We are always looking for new ideas, say the teen entrepreneurs who are the brains behind the edtech platform ‘Classminds’ that strives to elevate the soft skills of students. The twins started the startup ‘Classminds’ in early 2020 with the vision to provide a global platform for students to hone their skills.
Born in India and brought up in Australia, Harpita and Harpith recognised the need for this idea when they returned to India. They realised the struggles of their peers in expressing ideas with confidence. This has inspired the twins to start Classminds. Harpita and Harpith started the startup with support from their father Pandian Annamalai, a software architect. We want to eliminate the language barrier and make everyone confident communicators, they say.
Classminds caters to students in more than 10 countries. The pandemic has only strengthened the startup that motivates students to be independent learners. In their opinion, having an independent learning attitude is the cornerstone to becoming career-ready. Besides providing sessions in various skills such as communication, learning, and pronunciation, the edtech firm also organises online global spelling bee competitions. They are also incorporating the possibilities of Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning into their startup.
The twins were brought to the limelight at the age of eight through a show on Australia’s Channel 10 in 2015.
The viewers were amazed to see Harpita and Harpith’s massive vocabulary of 50,000 words. Their passion for spelling began at the age of two. They got curious about the words they heard in bedtime stories. Since then, learning words has been their favourite hobby. They would even look for words while visiting supermarkets. The most amazing part was playing word games after family dinner. This routine positively impacted their lives and eventually led the twins to curate a word bank of more than 50,000 words. This helped them compete with 14-year-olds in the Great Australian Spelling Bee TV competition. This word bank is also a key essential at Classminds.
Harpita and Harpith spend their leisure time attending various certification courses by top US universities. They are also doing English programmes for the Tamil Nadu government’s educational TV channel, “Kalvi TV.” When it comes to running a business along with academics, the twins say they have a smart way of tackling it. Time management is everything, they believe. And, they have no qualms about others judging their ideas. They believe one has to find the courage to follow their dreams.
