S Kunaal Jaiswal
Founder of Sakhe! | Author | AI & Robotics Engineer
Building technology for one of education's most overlooked problems: understanding students before they struggle.
I'm the Founder of Sakhe!, where I'm developing AI-powered solutions that help institutions support students through intelligent insights. Currently pursuing a Dual Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence & Robotics at IIITDM Kancheepuram. Alongside engineering, I write about education, psychology, and the future of human-centered technology.
B.Tech Mechanical + M.Tech AI & Robotics
IIITDM Kancheepuram (Batch 2024–2029)
Institute of National ImportancePeaks and Valleys
A record of honest progress. True success is defined by what remains after setbacks.
Roots
Class 10th - 91% (UP Board, English Medium)
Appeared for Class 10th during the height of COVID-19. No coaching, no structured guidance - just self-study in a small town in Kushinagar. Scored 91% and established an early conviction: that consistency under pressure is a learnable skill.
Class 12th - 89% (UP Board, English Medium)
Completed senior secondary with 89%, while simultaneously preparing for JEE - a dual-track that most students in Kushinagar never attempt. The score was not perfect, but the ambition it represented was.
The First Grind
JEE Mains - 84%ile (I), 75%ile (II)
First encounter with the JEE machine. Session I yielded 84 percentile - respectable but not enough for a national college. Session II dropped to 75. The pattern was not performance failure; it was psychological - the invisible pressure of belonging to something larger than I had ever been prepared for.
JEECUP Group I - AIR 3 (332/360)
Scored 332 out of 360 in JEECUP Group I and secured All India Rank 3. This opened the door to ATI Lucknow - the only government diploma institute for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering in UP. I rejected the offer to attempt JEE Advanced. At the time, it felt like ambition. In hindsight, it was also the beginning of a very hard chapter.
JEE Advanced - Failed (Negative Marks)
Sat for JEE Advanced and did not clear. Negative marks overall. The identity I had built as a 'topper' shattered in a single result. Received an SSB call letter for TES Entry but could not go - confidence was too low to even show up.
The Macaulay Moment
The Decision to Drop - Born from a Misread
After JEE Advanced failed, I decided to abandon engineering entirely. The plan: enroll in BA Politics and Education at a local college and prepare for government service - the conventional exit route. Then I read Macaulay's Minute on Education:
"We must at present do our best to form a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals, and in intellect."
I misread its intent - but the misreading sparked something more important than the correct interpretation. I saw that chasing government exams was another version of becoming that manufactured class. I decided to dare. I took a drop year.
The Drop Year
Six Months of PW - Then the Collapse
Prepared online with Physics Wallah for six months with uncommon intensity. Then mid-year, the backlog of online batches, the hype of JEE, and the invisible weight of proving oneself caught up. Confidence collapsed. The narrative in my head: 'I must justify that I belong to the class of achievers.' Self-doubt became a constant background noise.
The E-Saral Mentorship Experiment
Discovered a personal mentorship batch at E-Saral. Fees were high - arguably beyond what was reasonable for the family situation. Purchased it anyway. The mentors were technically competent but approached me as a cognitive unit only: more chapters, more problems, more mock tests. The physical exhaustion, emotional fragility, moral confusion, and spiritual disconnection were invisible to them. I left the batch. This failure seeded the idea that would become PECMS.
JEE Mains Session I - 95%ile
Despite the chaos, JEE Mains Session I returned 95 percentile. Six months of insane preparation had worked cognitively, even while everything else was breaking down. But the anxiety did not lift with the result.
Post-Result Anxiety - Near Depression
A month after the JEE Mains result, a second episode of anxiety - near depression - set in due to personal circumstances beyond the exam. The score had not fixed the internal state. This confirmed what I had begun to theorize: cognitive performance and internal wellbeing are separate systems, and coaching addresses only one.
JEE Mains Session II - 91%ile
Returned to Physics Wallah informally and sat for Session II. Scored 91 percentile. Not the peak of Session I, but a demonstration of resilience under genuine psychological pressure.
JEECUP Group I - AIR 1 (Top Rank Nationally)
Secured All India Rank 1 in JEECUP Group I. The same exam I had ranked AIR 3 the year before - this time, the top nationally.
JEE Advanced - Failed Again
Sat for JEE Advanced a second time. Did not clear. The Advanced remained out of reach. But by this point, something had shifted: I was no longer letting the result define the arc.
The IIIT Route - Chaos to Campus
JoSAA Counselling - No College
Despite 91 percentile and 95 percentile scores across sessions, JoSAA counselling yielded nothing - not a single seat. The OBC category cut-offs, choice-filling errors (partly on a mentor's watch), and the bracket of scores combined to produce a blank outcome. Applied for CSAB Round 1. Got nothing. Refused to sit for Round 2.
The Friend Who Changed the Outcome
At the last moment, Er. Nikhil Gupta - a friend and brother-in-law - pushed me to sit for CSAB Round 2 against my own reluctance. I sat. I got IIITDM Kancheepuram. The decision to listen to one person in that moment changed everything.
Kushinagar to Chennai in a Blanket Chamber
Three days. No available trains. Flight tickets unaffordable at short notice. At Gorakhpur Railway Station, negotiated with a vendor to hide inside the chamber where blankets for AC berths are stored. Technically illegal. Morally unambiguous - the only option left to protect the one real shot at a national college. That night, inside a blanket storage chamber, I arrived in Chennai. Completed verification and got admission to an Institute of National Importance.
Inside the Institute
First Year - Anxiety at the Gate
The wounds of the JEE grind followed me into IIIT. Lived in anxiety through most of the first year. Acted impulsively. The environment was new, the peers were formidable, and the internal state was still fragile. But I kept writing.
Published: Parenting The Nation (Dreambook Publishing, 2025)
Whatever came to mind, I wrote. With AI as a structuring collaborator, developed 10 manuscripts - 2 were deleted, several are shelved, one was published. Parenting The Nation went to print with Dreambook Publishing in 2025. The Director of IIITDM Kancheepuram recognised it publicly - the first time my family saw that writing was not a waste of time.
Scholarship Volunteer - First Leadership
Joined as a Scholarship Volunteer at IIITDM - the first time I held any kind of institutional responsibility. It forced me out of self-containment. By the second year, I had transformed: from the student who arrived in a blanket chamber to someone actively building within the institution.
SSB & NSB Call Letters - Karol Bagh Training
Received call letters for both SSB and NSB. Completed 15-day training at Khan GS Research Centre, Karol Bagh, Delhi - studied OLQs, leadership psychology, and chakra-based personality frameworks under Major General Dr. M.P. Singh. Could not appear for the final interview due to IIIT semester commitment, but the training permanently shaped how I think about human potential assessment.
From Wounds to Frameworks
PECMS - Born from a Mentor's Blind Spot
The E-Saral batch failed me not because of cognitive neglect but because it saw nothing else. That experience became a diagnostic question: what are the five systems a student is actually running at any moment? The answer became PECMS - Physical, Emotional, Cognitive, Moral, Spiritual - a five-node diagnostic mesh. Every framework I have built since extends from this root.
Sakhe! - The Platform
The 49-day mentorship program and PECMS framework eventually demanded a product. Sakhe! (formerly Sakha) is a student internal-state analysis platform - a B2B diagnostic webapp for coaching institutes, built on the PECMS × 7-Chakra Layer × Z-axis architecture (35 diagnostic nodes). Tagline: Mirror Yourself. The mission: spot students in distress before institutions lose them.
Core Contributions
A showcase of ongoing entrepreneurial ventures, published literature, custom intellectual frameworks, and creative writings.
Sakhe!
Student Internal State Analysis Platform
"Mirror Yourself"
Sakhe! is a state-of-the-art B2B diagnostic webapp designed for coaching institutes to map, interpret, and support the internal mental, physical, and cognitive states of students, spotting distress before institutions lose them.
B2B Diagnostics
Custom analytics webapp to identify students' mental blockages and stress early.
35-Node Architecture
State engine built on the PECMS × 7-Chakra Layer × Z-axis diagnostic mesh.
Distress Spotting
Empathetic diagnostic feedback loops to prevent severe academic burnout and distress.
Parenting The Nation
Where Dreams Find Their Compass A Debut Novel
On a night train from Bihar, a 24-year-old boy watches a baby sleep peacefully in her father's arms - and asks one question that changes everything: Why can't a nation be parented like a child?
Set against India's broken examination culture, coaching institute scams, and the quiet devastation of generational aspiration, Parenting The Nation follows Rudra Kumar - a boy who carries no connections, no savings, and no safety net. Only belief. And the unbearable cost of watching that belief fail the people around him.
"This country doesn't lack talent. It lacks a system that protects and propels talent without asking for status, surname, or savings."
Published by Dreambook Publishing, 2025.
PECMS Framework
Cognitive & System DiagnosticsThe PECMS (Predictive Emotional Cognitive Monitoring System) framework evaluates structural parameters of individual distress. It compiles cognitive markers to run proactive interventions, establishing healthier emotional baselines for young achievers.
Key Tenets:
- Predictive distress indicators utilizing biometric/behavioral logging.
- Individualized emotional baseline tracking.
- Feedback loops for systemic intervention.
हे राम!
"जब चेतना की सीमाओं पर, मन का रण हावी होता है..."
प्रेम-विवश
"प्रेम विवश होकर कब तक, मौन वेदना झेलेगा..."
जवाब दो!
"A powerful musical piece addressing structural educational questions and peer pressure."
Let's Connect
Have a concept to discuss, a publishing inquiry, or interested in the Sakhe! startup architecture? Reach out today.