Masterclass With Fearless Educator

About Speaker:  Suranjoy Singh is originally from Ishok Makha Leikai, Bishnupur District was brought up in a humble fisherman's family.  Since his early adulthood he was in the profession of fishing. His passion and philanthropic sentiments towards people's suffering was deeply rooted ever since his youth. The suffering of the flood victims on account of the construction of Ithai dam in the region was the driving force for him to begin the journey of Social Work during 1980s and 1988 that he along with some local volunteers pioneered The People’s Resource Development Association”. Suranjoy Singh was graduated from Science stream in Manipur University and awarded the District Youth Award by NYK, Bishnupur District, govt of India. He has keen interest in serving people who are downtrodden. At present he is the secretary of People’s Resource Development Association, Bishnupur and committed his works for the welfare of people in the society, with high spirit of social work and shares the vision that a better world is possible for every being. He oversees all the activities and development of the organization of PRDA.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Inspired by the teachings of Srila Prabhupada, Bharatarshabha Dasa joined ISKCON movement in 1992 while studying B Tech in Computer Science from REC Calicut. Since then, he has dedicated his life in the service of society through various initiatives. Akshaya Patra has immensely benefitted from his many contributions to address classroom hunger across the country. In this direction, he has been handling multiple areas related to public affairs, strategic outreach, policy planning and implementation, programme management and emergency food relief activities. Bharatarshabha Dasa serves as the Regional President for Akshaya Patra's feeding initiatives in Delhi NCR, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. He has been instrumental in the commencement of the organisation's feeding operations in various parts of India, such as Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and NCR region.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Yogendra Bangar is the founder of Aajibaichi Shala, India’s first school for grandmothers. The school focuses to provide quality education to our Indian Grannies. The school was founded in 2016 on International Women’s Day in Fangane village in Maharashtra. Bangar is an activist and the zila parishad teacher of the Motiram Dalal Charitable Trust. The school had a simple name, it was set up by a simple man, and the idea was also simple. However, the simplest of ideas are somehow always the most life changing. This was a school set up solely for elderly women of Fangane, who wished to be able to pick up pencils as their children and grandchildren did and sign their names. Today, they wear bright pink saree-uniforms and head to school together to learn their rhymes, math, alphabet, and art — and like any other students, complain about homework and tests. They are living a life they never had access to. Pretty in pink, sprightly of step and wide toothy and toothless smiles are what their Sundays are about now. Aajibaichi Shala is a Maharashtrian grandmother’s lesson to all of India, and it’s one of India’s proudest stories.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Prashant Gade, a 29-year-old, maker by profession and innovator by soul. Prashant is the founder and CEO of Inali, INALI works for the upliftment of people with certain upper limb disabilities. Inali was started by Prashant in 2018 with a thought to help a seven-year-old girl with missing limbs and the journey continued, till date through Inali 3500 free electronic prosthetic arms has been provided to people living in rural parts of the country. Inali has been recognized by several institutions like Infosys foundation for the innovation of the India’s most affordable prosthetic arm “Inali Arm”. Prashant currently heads the research and development of Inali and has a vision to create an organization in India which creates affordable but advance health care products. His initiatives has been Awarded with Infosys Social Innovation Award 2018, Nasscom Social Innovation Forum 2019 Award and James Dyson Award. Also featured at: Kaun Banega CrorePati, Better India, Logical Indian and Deccan Chronicle  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Jinan KB has been deeply concerned with the total absence of knowledge creation in Indian society. Even though human beings are biologically equipped to create knowledge, we, as children gets conditioned to analyze second-hand information, which now can be replaced by intelligent machines. He believes that education needs to be reimagined based on the natural ability in children to create knowledge, to develop qualities, abilities, and sensitivities that can’t to taught to machines. Jinan has been studying how children develop their cognitive system meant for creating knowledge naturally for around 35 years and have been able to decode the whole system  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Geeta Dharmarajan is an inspirational writer, editor, social entrepreneur, and educationist. An award-winning writer for children and adults, with over 48 published books and more than 450 pieces in leading newspapers and magazines, she has over 40 years of professional experience, having served at the India Today Group of Companies, The University of Pennsylvania and INTACH, before Katha. She believes in a world where every child can fulfil their potential and none is stunted by material, emotional or spiritual poverty. Her deep interest in how children and communities learn led to her starting Katha in 1988. She conceptualized and developed Katha’s unique Story Pedagogy and earth-friendly curriculum that is the bedrock for all the reading and education programmes of Katha. She believes that translation is a cohesive force in India and her work in literary translation has made Katha a pioneering publisher in the country with a strong pan-Indian community of writers, translators, academics, and editors. She has also served as honorary Chairperson of the National Bal Bhavan, Jawaharlal Nehru’s dream institution for children in India, across social and economic divides. She was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2012 for her contributions in the field of Literature and Education.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Dr. Prahalathan KK one of the co-founders of Bhumi, one of India's largest volunteer organisations. Bhumi mobilises citizens to work towards the sustainable development goals, and its 30,000+ volunteers educate over 25,000 under-privileged children and work for causes like environment, disability, and animal welfare. He strongly believes every child deserves a quality education and is passionate about making volunteering a habit among young people. By education, he is a doctor specialised in Ophthalmology. At Bhumi, he leads the corporate & youth volunteering programmes and also handles strategy & fundraising.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Adam Woodward is a Director of the Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya. Who is originally from the UK, and has been settled in India for the last twenty years, is a passionate and committed Social Entrepreneur. He has been a key component in facilitating the growth and development at Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya. Adam studied Horticulture and has a keen interest in Permaculture, Ecology, Natural House Building Methods, Landscape Design and Green Living. He is the committed Social Entrepreneur who shares the vision that a better world is possible; he oversees all the activities and development at the Kalkeri Sangeet Vidyalaya.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Ratnesh is essentially a learner, and over the past 22years intensely learning about learning and children. Most of my teachers have been children. Ratnesh worked with all ages of children - from two years to teenagers and with parents and teachers.Instead of teaching, he propagates democratic, learner-driven environments. His chief role is to agitate, to confuse, to challenge, to listen, to converse, to reflect and to expand the learner's horizon wider and deeper. Currently he is the co-founder of Aarohi which is an Open Learning Community for learners of all ages: Open to all kinds of interests, abilities, styles and content areas. Learning by doing what one wants, how one wants, and self-reflection. Community to co-live, co-learn and co-support each other. Aarohi's Campus is in a village near Hosur in Tamil Nadu (near Bangalore)  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?

About Speaker:  Acharya Prashant is an emerging champion of socio-spiritual awakening in the world today. An alumnus of IIT-Delhi and IIM-Ahmedabad, and a former Civil Services officer, Acharya Prashant is an acclaimed Speaker, Vedanta Teacher and author of over 60 books. Apart from that he wears various hats: a veganism promoter, an environmental activist, a science activist, a campaigner against superstition, and a champion of essential human freedom.  #INSPIRE​ #WhySchoolsMatter​?