Masterclass With Fearless Educator

Topic: "Education Past Covid Time"

About Dr. Kiran Bedi

Born in a Tennis playing family from Amritsar in 1949, to Prakash and Prem Lata Peshawaria, Dr Kiran Bedi is second of their 4 daughters. 

While still in school she became a junior National Tennis Champion at the age of 16, and Asian Tennis Champion at age of 22 and was ranked India’s number one of her time. 

Dr Kiran Bedi is the first woman in India to have joined the officer ranks of Indian Police Service in 1972. She served in it for 35 years. 

For her policing stood for ‘Power to Correct’, ‘Power to Prevent’ and ‘Power to get things done’. 

Dr Bedi served as Police Advisor to Secretary General in United Nations, in the Department of Peace Keeping Operations in New York. 

She is recipient of The Ramon Magsaysay Award, also called Asia's Nobel Peace Award for bringing about a positive relationship between Police and the People. 

Dr Bedi is a Law graduate, Masters, and a PhD Scholar with post doctoral Nehru Fellowship. She is an author of several books such as I Dare, It's Always Possible, Creating Leadership and more...

Dr Bedi has been voted as the most admired and trusted woman in India by Readers Digest, The Week Magazine, and others over the years. 

She has a biopic on her life called, Yes Madam Sir, made by an Australian film maker and a recent documentary on her was featured in Nat Geo’s Mega Icons. 

She is running two NGOs which reach out to marginalised sections of society in education, skills development, in urban slums and rural areas..including prisons. Currently, Dr. Kiran Bedi is serving as the Lt. Governor of Puducherry.

Topic: "Bicycle Education"

Dawood Vaid is an educationist and trainer. Working with scientists as a Patent & Trademark Analyst, in Moscow and Switzerland, he observed and compared different education pedagogy and created 'fun-learn' approach to learning. A voracious reader and an avid horse fan, Dawood is most likely to be found conducting quizzes and interacting with students across the grades. He also works with academic institutions through School Leadership Workshops, conducts teacher training, and enjoys his sessions with teenagers.

The author of 'The Education Riddle' and 'T.A.L.K.: Speak with Ease & Confidence'. Both books are a result of decade long school visits and teachers' training workshops. Dawood is a Certified instructor for teaching 21st Century skills & Leadership and is developing a student-centric curriculum under Sky Education. ('Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills' by University of Melbourne on Coursera).

He holds an Engineering degree in Electronics & Communication and has completed MA Education & MBA (PGDBA) from Symbiosis, India. He lives in Mumbai spending time telling stories to his daughters and creating content for Life Skills curriculum.

Topic: " Future of the School"

Sachin Usha Vilas Joshi

Education Activist 

In the Indian social system, we consider education as the foundation of the all-round development of the person. Our Ex-President Late Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam said, “If we want to make India a Super Power we need to work harder on three people: Student, Teacher and Parent as these three will play a major role to create a future India of our dreams.

Inspired by these words Mr. Sachin Usha Vilas Joshi stepped into the field of education and started working towards his aim. Sachin Usha Vilas Joshi, a person who failed several unit tests in school now holds seven degrees in various subjects from Pune University in the field of Management.

In spite of getting attractive offers from renowned companies, he did not take up a job in multi-national companies but chose to start a “School for Failures.” After proving his mettle to change the perception of people towards failure he expanded his vision and dreamt of taking education out of classroom boundaries.

He made his mission to replace blackboard teaching with real-life experiences. To acknowledge his contribution in the field of education he was invited by the European Council for the World Forum of Democracy.

He is the First Indian to give a speech on Education in the European Parliament. He has also worked on many novel concepts and started India's first "Mobile School” for underprivileged children. He is the founder and Director of the unique concept of “Education on Wheels” for which he has been awarded by the Limca Book of World Records.

He felt miserable to see children deprived of education and then he took an initiative of bringing children who had never attended school into the mainstream of education through his campaign

“Every Child Counts”. Under this project, 6500 children were admitted in different Municipal and Government Schools.

He also educationally adopted 300 girl students from Sayyed community. What makes it furthermost special is the fact that this is the first generation of the Sayyed community to receive a formal education.

Mr.Sachin Joshi is the founder-director of Espalier - The Experimental School” which is a combination of Gandhi and Einstein Philosophy.

This Experimental school has been awarded as “The Most Innovative School” as well as The Best Experiential School in India.

A world Organization "Design For Change" has honoured the most prestigious "I can Award” to the Espalier school and bestowed "Edu Hero Award" to Sachin Joshi for his techniques of innovation in education.

Recently he has established Espalier-The Heritage School. A school-based on experiential learning to carry out innovative research in the field of education.

He has minutely studied the development of a child’s brain and its co-relation with education.His research has been included in the syllabus for D. Ed teachers course.He also has the privilege to be an active member of different Government Education Committees.His innovative thought of adding his mother's name before his Father's name has been widely appreciated by the society and he has been instrumental in giving a new definition to the middle name.

Taking note of his commendable achievements great personalities like Honorable ExPresident Mrs Pratibhatai Patil, International Thinker Mr Sandeep Waslekar, Senior Socialist Anna Hazare, Politician Shashi Tharoor, Social Activist Shaam Manav, Late poet Mangesh Padgaonkar, Sports psychologist Bhishmaraj Baam sir and many more have blessed and appreciated his body of work.

Topic: "Enabling average teacher to deliver high quality curriculum transaction"

Pankaj comes from Uttar Pradesh. After completing his engineering degree at IIT Roorkee, he went to Ahmedabad to work at the Indian Space Research Organization, and then completed his PhD at IIM Ahmedabad. Here he spent time understanding the development sector. Upon graduation, although offered an attractive job at Tata Consultancy Services, he joined the advisory team of Dr. Kurien, who led the White Revolution. Dr. Kurien approached ministers and government officials to change policies to further Amul’s growth, and Pankaj prepared his briefs for meetings. These two and a half years were truly inspiring for Pankaj, who still considers Dr. Kurien his greatest mentor.

After seeing that rural development moved slowly due to a lack of trained professionals in the sector, Pankaj took what he learned from Dr. Kurien and started the Institute of Rural Management Ahmedabad (IRMA). He created the syllabi for and taught courses on strategic management for the rural areas at IRMA, adding specialized faculty members in rural education, rural health, and other sectors. Through his efforts, Pankaj trained a strong cadre of more than 500 students a year who would catalyze rural development. Born out of Pankaj’s insight on rural management and development, IRMA is at the forefront of professionalizing the development of India’s rural sector. Over the years it has provided management training, support, and research facilities to students committed to rural development. This effort has drawn co-operatives, COs, government development agencies, international development organizations, and funding agencies to IRMA.

Since IRMA focused on the cooperative model, Pankaj also introduced new topics, such as the role of COs in rural development. In 1994, he left IRMA to explore new areas and broaden his perspective. This led him to teach abroad in prestigious universities in the UK and US (MIT, NYU, and University of Leeds). Pankaj also consulted for Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, advising them on their general management strategies. Later, he became a member of an evaluation committee sponsored by the government of Andhra Pradesh, and he participated in evaluating the education sector and identifying potential improvements.

Pankaj Jain is providing high-quality, low-cost education to children in slums and poor urban areas by re-engineering the role of the teacher. By dividing this role into three parts that require different skill levels, Pankaj has created new job opportunities and increased educational outcomes. Going forward, Pankaj’s plan is to enter government schools and influence policy through the Education Ministry to adopt the Gyan Shala model of education, because he believes it is a method for efficient expansion.

Topic: "Hariyo Makha- Sikkim Against Pollution"

My name is Lomas Dhungel. I am basically a school teacher teaching Mathematics and Physics at Government Senior Secondary School, Makha which lies in the East district of Sikkim.

Before my works as a teacher, I was an employee at the prestigious State Bank of India. I belonged to the Last batch that had the privilege of “Pension” also, in addition to the scope of timely promotions.

Since childhood, I was deeply interested in science and always wanted to become a researcher. This zest for knowledge insisted me to change my job profile. After working for 4 years at the State Bank of India, I left my job to start my new career as a teacher of Maths and Physics in 2012.

Since 2013-14, I was experimenting on ideas of waste management. And by 2015 an idea of Plastic Up-cycling was successfully experimented.

This incident motivated me to start a new initiative by the name “HARIYO MAKHA – SIKKIM AGAINST POLLUTION”. It is a type of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that works on the area of experimenting ideas on zero waste management, proper resource utilization and sustainable development.

Topic: "Education: The Paradigm Shift"  

Topic: "Educating Social Change Leaders"  

Topic: "Unschooling and Parenting"