Masterclass With Fearless Educator

Topic: "Unleashing the Maker Inside a Child"

Anil Pradhan(a.k.a. Ideas Man of India) is an Indian engineer, innovator and revolutionary educationist. He is the founder of Navonmesh Prasar Foundation and School for Rural Innovation(IPSFRI), which was founded in 2015 to educate the less-privileged students of Odisha through an interdisciplinary curriculum. He is also known for designing innovative labs, teaching tools, indigenous rockets and projects which solves real-life problems. 

After completing his engineering from UCE (University College of Engineering, Burla), Anil has quit three cushy jobs to follow his dreams. His mission is to create a thirst for innovation among students so that every student, regardless of background, becomes an achiever and, in the process, our country progresses. Engineering students go for jobs. However, Anil is exceptional. He founded a school in a rural pocket of Cuttack to boost the zest for creativity among students.  

Prior to incorporating Navonmesh Prasar Foundation, Anil worked on projects with L&T, TATA and other during his undergraduate course in Engineering. He also the Chief Designer of V.S.L.V., Asia’s first Multipurpose Student Rocketry Mission and developed a satellite to monitor Hirakud Dam.

Topic: "Age doesn't matter"

Sixteen-year-old Janhavi Panwar is no short of a wonder. The fact that she was titled the ‘Wonder girl of India’ at the age of nine should testify that. Janhavi is already pursuing the final year of Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Delhi University when most kids of her age are in Class 8. To add to it, she has mastered nine foreign accents, in addition to basic French, basic Japanese, English, Hindi and Haryanavi languages.

Janhavi’s father Brijmohan Panwar recently in an interaction with The Better India shared how he could easily tell that Janhavi was a gifted child when she was merely a year-old. When she was only one, her vocabulary was equipped with 500-550 English words. When she turned three, she wasn’t admitted to Nursery but directly to Senior KG because she had picked most things at home. As years passed, when we spoke to the school management, they realised Janhavi’s potential by looking at her scores, and she was given special permission to clear two classes in the same year.”

While Janhavi’s mom is a housewife, her father is a school teacher and thus they have always had limited means. Despite that Brijmohan ensured that his daughter received all the facilities that she required to hone her skills right after he realised that she was exceptionally talented.

Topic: "Understanding Developmental Delays in the Primary Classroom"

Madhavi Adimulam is the Founder of Ananya Child Development Centre. Ananya CDC is a Multi-disciplinary Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre for Children with Special Needs like Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Global Developmental Delay, Learning Difficulties, ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorder), APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) etc.

Madhavi has a post graduate degree in English Language and Literature and Clinical Psychology. She studied Entrepreneurship from ISB (Indian School of Business), Hyderabad. She is a Certified Auditory Integration Therapist from iLs, USA. She worked/volunteered in some of the best special schools in UK and attended numerous training in educating children with special needs. She trained in Sensory Integration & Developmental Movement Therapy from Extralesson Institute, Australia. 

She is a qualified Early Intervention Professional in Early Start Denver Model by UC Davis MIND Institute, USA. Madhavi is also certified in PEERS® bySemel Mind Institute, UCLA, USA – A Social Skills Intervention program for children who have difficulty in their peer interactions and in making friendships.Madhavi is also a TEDx Speaker. Madhavi has over 20 years of experience in working with children various special needs. She especially loves working with children who need help with Attention and Concentration, Auditory Processing, Pragmatics, Executive Functioning, Life Skills and Social Skills. 

Madhavi consults with Schools in and around Hyderabad and she also consults with NCERT (The National Council of Educational Research and Training, Delhi) in developing Guidelines and Teach Training Manuals in 'Including Children with Special Needs in Primary Schools'. She is also an active member of the Core Committee working on RPWD Act (Rights for People with Disabilities Act) for the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, India.

Topic: "Communicating with parents in Covid-19 times"

Veteran of 3 educational start-ups – is now a Founder of Agarkar Centre of Excellence, Fatema’s passion for teaching-learning and children defines the different roles she has crafted – as an edupreneur, educator and mentor.

Fatema who is a State and University topper as part of the prestigious Mumbai based Sydenham College of Commerce & Economics, holds a degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Birmingham (UK), apart from her B.ED and ECCE degrees amassed when she decided education was her calling.

Fatema has been awarded by Giants Group for her outstanding contribution to the field of education in 2012, the Young Achiever’s Award in the year 2017, Singapore based, Best of Asia’s, ‘Enterprising Educator in the year 2018 and as an entrepreneur ‘Best Edupreneur 2019 and Best Leadership’ by Progressive Academic Excellence India (Maharashtra 2019), one of the 10th finest inspirational educators in 2019 by TKR, India, Learning Leaders of Tomorrow by the 7th World Training Development Congress 2020 and the latest being recognised as One of The Top 50 Educators Who Can Revive Indian Education by the Education World 2020. Donning all the skills of an adroit speaker, addresses by her during conferences and summit are not just informative and concrete but also eye-opening. Being a social entrepreneur and educationist, she never turned blind to the quotient of altruism rather she has a dream of setting up foster care centers on a pan-India basis to enable the less fortunate with physical disabilities to receive assistance and will be executing this, in times to come.

Fatema is on the Advisory Board of several Trusts and organisations including EduTech India, School Wizard, Wockhardt Foundation, Ray Foundation, Teachers Help Teachers as well as a jury member, Education World Awards, a platform that recognises the efforts of educators pan India. Fatema is also the Vice President for Early Childhood Association (ECA) and the Mumbai Territory Head for Association for Primary Education & Research (APER) in India.

Topic: "Waste recycling as a potential career option"

Graduated as a mechanical engineer, he attained his master’s degree in business management from Greenwich University, London. He was inspired by the responsible recycling mechanism present in UK and the dire need for such a system in our country for our sustainable growth. The idea got into the shape of Namo eWaste in 2014 and since then, with his enthusiasm at a young age of 28 years, he has take big steps to reach the goal of building one of the best e-waste recycling facilities in India. 

Namo eWaste is the fastest growing e-waste management company in India working with many public and private sector companies. Akshay has various business interests in the scrap recycling field. He has achieved enormous recognition in the said field since 2015 and has reached an 8-figure income mark.

Previous Job - As a management trainee at Maruti Suzuki factory in Gurgaon.

Achievements- Building a successful model for collection and recycling of e-waste, countering the problems like competition from unorganized sector, reverse logistics cost and lack of awareness within the stakeholders for such type of recycling. He has a delivered a complete model for channelization of waste through our various online and offline initiatives.

His model includes both B2B and B2C collection of e-waste. Namo is present in about 28 states of India with its Franchisees, Collection Centres and Channel Partners. As an entrepreneur, Akshay is very flamboyant in putting up his views and is the youngest person to be invited at ‘Policy Making’ meets by various ministries. He has featured at many events as a speaker/panellist and featured by leading media houses as one of the top budding entrepreneurs in India. 

Namo eWaste has been awarded as ‘Best Recycling Company of the Year’ at Green India Awards, New Delhi 2018 and 2nd Prize at ‘3R Excellence Award for E-Waste Recyclers In India’ at 8th Regional 3R Forum In Asia and the Pacific at Indore 2018. 

Future Plans- Namo is setting up India’s ‘Largest Recycling Facility’ for recycling of electronic, non-ferrous and automobile waste in the vicinity of Ahmadabad in Gujarat. The new plant would operational from 2021 with an investment of over Rs. 100 cr.

Topic: "Importance of plastic waste recycling"

#PlasticWarrior, TEDx speaker, Writer and Entrepreneur – Medha had never

thought of working in waste management sector. “an accidental environmentalist” is how she describes her journey.

Her life has taken her to different countries, jobs and streams of education. She was never at peace working regularly in 9 to 5 job for someone else. This thirst for knowledge, fulfillment and passion for master of own destiny has led her to be the co-founder of her own ventures namely Rudra Environmental Solutions (India) Ltd, Mantraa Research & Consultants Pvt Ltd, and Phoenix General Insurance Brokers Pvt Ltd, where she serves a Director. She is also a founder trustee of Founder Trustee of “Keshav Sita Memorial Foundation Trust”.

Always yearning for more she started the first company in market research and Medha found herself working on waste plastic after witnessing the death of deer in wild life sanctuary. The passion and determination to find a solution on waste plastic resulted in Medha and her business partner Shirish Phadtare in to building a first pilot machine in 2010, which successfully converted waste plastic in to usable fuel.

Looking at bigger picture has led Medha a trustee of “Keshav Sita Memorial

Foundation Trust” to create awareness of waste plastic and segregation at source for better waste management. Today the Trust collects waste plastic from more than 25,000 households, hotels and offices in and around Pune. She has managed to connect and inculcate habit of source segregation amongst more than 1 lakh people.

The trust has also been collecting waste plastic from faraway places like Baramati, Baneshwar, Raigad Fort, Bhima Shankar, Thane and Dombiwali.

Her efforts have helped collection of more than 10,00,000 kg of waste plastic which was otherwise headed for landfill.

She has earned her MBA from Nottingham University, UK, LLB from Pune

University as well as PhD in Branding. She has studied for MSc in Psychology and has completed many diplomas in subjects ranging from IPR, Journalism, Marketing and Forensic Science.

Her passion for writing has been evident as She has been writing columns on self help and management for leading Marathi newspapers such as Loksatta, Maharashtra Times, and Sramana for more than 15 years. She has also penned two books namely “Domestic Violence – a reality” and “Impressive Manners”

Medha who has published many scholarly papers on management and marketing research, in several leading international journals; also conducts lectures and seminars on communication, branding and women empowerment in various colleges and institutes across Maharashtra.

She has been recipient of many awards, namely “Yadnyawalka Award”, Sukhakarta Award, Phoenix Leading Lady 17 and “V” 18 Award, Swachhodaya U.P Award 2019, iWomen Global award19, HNIMR Best Educator 19, VNWC Gold award 19, TIP 20 in Abu Dhabi and she was one of top 30 Women Transforming India of Niti Ayog.

She is a trained Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancer who devotes majority of her time in creating awareness on waste plastic.

Topic: "How Schools Should Evolve in Future"

Parmita is a humanitarian and social activist with experience leading projects aimed at helping underprivileged children. She completed her master’s dissertation on the challenges of educating children in low-income communities at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. When she was barely out of her teens, she was already organizing and managing educational programs for children in underprivileged communities, as well as working in disaster relief programs. 

As the Principal of Akshar Forum, she has led the establishment of the school and continues to oversee the daily operations. She is responsible for the day to day operations of the school and organization.

The Assam educator and social entrepreneur Parmita Sarma won the prestigious Devi Awards during its 17th edition held in Kolkata recently.

The awards recognise and honour the accomplishments of women who have made a distinct mark in their respective fields. Sarma was recognised for running a unique institution called Akshar Forum, which accepts waste plastic bags as school fees, and also provides a source of livelihood for the teenagers in the school.

Sarma was one of the eight recipients of the prestigious awards this year. She was handed over the award by Union minister of textiles and women and child development, Smriti Z Irani.

Topic: "Developing a Holistic approach in Education"

Ms. Shruti Jain is the Co-Founder of Disha-The footpath School, a NGO focusing on the education and the overall development of the underprivileged kids. Disha was started with an aim of equipping the kids with the knowledge to help them face the world. Presently She is also serving as an Assistant Professor at Auro University, Surat. She has earned her degree in Master in Business Administration, from SLIMS, Ahemdabad.

Ex banker and an ex- head at a startup she has always been into something which makes her soul happy and that’s how the biggest achievement came into her life the “idea of right to education and smile”, to one of the greatest gifts of God - kids

With Disha, she is now involved in the transformation of the lives of many underprivileged children, and with the message “Education is the greatest wealth” she believes each one of us should come up and contribute directly or indirectly in the same line.

Topic: "Golf is Perfect Fit For Schools"

A former Air Force Officer who is deeply interested in Sports (including Adventure Sports) and thinks of utilizing sports for teaching kids life lessons/skills. I have been proficient mountaineers, Skier, Sky Diver, White Water Sportspractitioner. Also has been more than a competent sportsman with proficiency in Football, Hockey, and golf. 

Former appointments include Para jumping Instructor, Vice Principal and Director Training at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Uttarkashi

Member/Leader of Indian/International climbing expeditions, First Commander of 'Guards'(Special Forces of IAF)

Secretary Delhi Golf Club

Director General Indian Golf Union.

Represented India in Asia Pacific GolfFederation, Royal & Ancient Scotland and international Golf Federation.

Topic: "Green Schooling- Future of Schooling"

Virendra Rawat is the originator of Global Green Schooling Concept, recognized by United Nations as Global Solution, which is listed on UN Global Innovation Exchange. His Green Schooling concept is creating a community of Nature Champions Worldwide.

He has authored responsible Curriculum for making responsible Nations and responsible World. He has transformed more than 150 conventional Schools and Universities into Global Green Schools and Global Green Universities in many countries.

He has addressed the Harvard University and United Nations on Sustainable Practices in Education. He is also a member of Harvard Extension Environmental Club of Harvard University. He was invited as OBSERVER from civil society for UN High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly to Commemorate International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in 2017, 18, 19 and Forth Session of UN Environment Assembly Kenya in 2019.

Mr. Rawat is a Mentor of Climate Reality Leadership Corps, headed by Al Gore – former Vice President of United State of America. He is also member of Atal Tinkering Lab - a STEM initiative for Schools of NITI Aayog Government of India. He is the recipient of Advaith Foundation School Leadership Award headed by N. R. Narayana Murthy founder of INFOSYS. He is also recipient of UNGA Award - 2019 for his contribution towards promoting UN SDG No. 4.

He is Mentoring many Individuals, Schools, Universities and Enterprises on sustainable practices and Hosting Model United Nations Worldwide. Mr. Rawat has emerged as Trend Setter for Sustainable practices in Education, Governance, Film Making, Hospitality, Medical, Infrastructure, Transportation, Lifestyle & Manufacturing sector in worldwide.

He is the author of Post Graduate Diploma in Green Teaching offered by Indus University, Ahmedabad. He is the host of United Nations General Assembly - Climate Week NYC affiliated Annual Green School Conference, New York City since 2017. He is also member of Indo-American Dosti House, Mumbai. Mr. Rawat is a Founder - Director of Green Mentoring & Solutions Pvt. Ltd.