Core Team
Natasha Joshi
Anushri has been a teacher and has led educational programmes in India, East Asia and the US over the last 10 years. Anushri has worked with Teach For India, International Rescue Committee, Global Nomads Group, and Sanctuary for Families. She has a Master's degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. At Columbia, she served as the Coordinator of the Working Group on Peace, Conflict and Education as well as the Co-chair of the Human Rights Colloquium. As an educator, she has served low-income communities, refugees, and survivors of gender violence and trafficking. Her areas of interest and expertise include literacy and language acquisition, education in contexts of violence, systemic school reform and inclusive education. She is an alum of the Miller Center, a Women-led cohort of the accelerator programme and on the organising committee for Teachers College, Columbia University's India chapter. If she wasn’t an educator she would have been working/playing at a dog shelter.
Anushri Alva
CEO & Founding Team Member
Bhavna has done her MBA in Finance from Osmania University, Hyderabad. She has vast experience in budget management, setting up accounting systems, and monitoring fundraising targets. The crux of her job at the Foundation is to see that the finances and expenses are accounted for accurately, compliant with laws and regulations applicable and that there is transparent reporting to all our stakeholders. She is extremely good with numbers and chooses to work in the social sector because she sees that there is a need to reduce the gap between haves and have-nots, especially so in education as this affects the coming generation. Bhavna loves travelling, gardening and pottery painting.
Bhavna Shah
Chief Financial Officer
Chelsea completed her graduation specializing in accounts, taxation and auditing from St. Xaviers College Goa. She has over 8 years of experience in the finalization of accounts and auditing. She loves the service sector for the empathy and dedication to bring about a change in mindset. When not juggling numbers, she loves to sing and has participated at various cultural events and has also completed her 6th grade in Piano. She is passionate about learning the violin and plans to set up an animal shelter in the near future.
Chelsea Dsouza
Senior Manager
Accounts & Operations
While interning with the technology team at Teach For India during the final year of his Engineering course, Haenik came across their fellowship program and never looked back. He taught 90 high school students in a low-income classroom in Mumbai for two years and stayed back for an additional third year to teach 42 students in a different community of the city. After graduating from the program, he worked on various educational initiatives such as Mastree by Academy and CodeChef for Schools in the capacity of Sr. Curriculum Designer and an Educational Consultant respectively. Having spent a year in the education technology space, he joined Adhyayan and works on all things data. Beyond work, Haenik enjoys cycling and cooking on a daily basis, and travelling by trains to experience India.
Haenik Kamdar
Project Manager
Monitoring & Evaluation
Jayati is a liberal arts graduate of the Young India Fellowship program from Ashoka University. Previously, she majored in economics with a minor in international relations from SLS, PDEU (formerly PDPU). Her academic work so far has always had a multidisciplinary approach. Some of the areas she researched and worked on academically are the environment, climate, sustainability, economics and, creative and critical writing. Jayati has experience as a content creator after having worked as a freelancer for various start-ups. Before joining AQEF, she was working with Bunavat, a handloom startup that works directly with weavers, on their first developmental intervention. She has hands-on live community experience and feels strongly about international development. She sincerely believes that hope is contagious and that every time someone decides to act, the world changes. When not working, she’s generally found watching ice dance or reading fiction.
Jayati Gupta
Associate
Fundraising
During her fellowship with Teach for India in Pune, Tiasha got first-hand experience of being a teacher in a low-income private school for 2 years. It pushed her to explore this field and build her knowledge and understanding of the development sector in India. This led to doing a Masters in Development from Azim Premji University, where with a diverse set of people, issues to discuss and insight to gain, Tiasha was able to gain an interdisciplinary perspective on this sector. Prior to this, she completed her Bachelors in Mass Media (specialised in Journalism) from Sophia College for Women, Mumbai. Working in different capacities with several not-for-profit organisations across the country, she realised the vastness of the fundraising world and the importance of it for any organisation, leading her to join AQEF. She is passionate about finding the best brownies in town and exploring local delicacies in restaurants wherever she goes.
Tiasha Banerjee
Manager
Fundraising
Team Arunachal Pradesh
Archana completed her Master’s in Education (School Organisation Leadership and Management) from Azim Premji University, Bangalore. This course motivated her to explore educational opportunities for the underprivileged and the school leader’s role in the effective functioning of the school. Prior to joining Adhyayan, her work included content writing, curriculum and coaching school leaders in building their skills and driving school-wide changes through them. She has been a part of AQEF since 2021. As a project manager, she has been an active member in the leadership development of school leaders and system leaders. Apart from her quest of improving the education system in India, Archana spends her free time reading history and loves discussing it with her father.
Archana K
Project Manager
Ashwajit completed his Masters in Education from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and has an educational background in the Development Sector. Ashwajit has earned recognition for his ability to effectively engage with the local community, officials and system leaders, and keep calm under pressure while working as a team player. His experience of working with cross-functional teams has taught him the importance of building trusted relationships and inspiring a shared project vision. He wants to continue to work in the education sector because he is a first-generation learner and understands the importance of good education.
Ashwajit Meshram
Project Manager
Team Goa
Bhavya Mittal(Project Manager for Training and Quality Assurance, Goa) - Bhavya completed B.Com (H) from Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), Delhi University in 2018. She has worked as a Project Head under National Service Scheme, LSR and has done multiple content writing internships. After her graduation, she got an opportunity to work in the “Social” wing of KPMG Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. wherein she was a part of two development sector consulting projects with non-government clients. After one year of experience, she decided to pursue M.A. Education from Azim Premji University, Bangalore which was an intellectually transformational journey for her. She has completed two research studies during her Masters, one of them being “Understanding the perspectives of government and private school teachers regarding the need of government schools”. Her interest areas span across civic aims of education and public/ private schooling.
Bhavya Mittal
Project Manager
Training & Quality Assurance
Nitin Padte
Senior Trainer
Nitin Padte has been an educator for over 25 years and has been a teacher of Economics, Human Rights, History, English, Journalism and Photography in six international schools in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. He has also been the Principal of three schools and Director of four schools in Mumbai offering different curricula. Teaching and engaging with students have been the mainstays of his career in education. Along with teaching he has also been a sports coach, part of a peer counselling programme and worked with students in residential life for six years. Within the International Baccalaureate, he has been an examiner, moderator, workshop leader, school evaluation team leader, consultant and examination proctor. Nitin has also been a journalist for 14 years with some of the leading newspapers in the country, including the Times and the Indian Express groups, and his writing has focused on environmental awareness, nuclear energy and education. He has written a textbook on Indian History for Orient Longman. He is passionate about reading, sports, education and environmental awareness. He is presently a consulting editor for The Kodaikanal Chronicle, a bi-monthly magazine that focuses on environmental issues.
Sapna Dsouza (Senior Project Associate, Goa): Sapna has completed her B.Sc B.Ed and found her passion in teaching. She has 8 years of experience as a science teacher & 4 years of experience as an academic coordinator during this journey of imparting education. Sapna has worked in different states of India like Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bihar. She believes all children are precious, but she is particularly drawn to help those who need it the most. She is always invested in their growth. Sapna loves to explore new places and enjoys meeting new people from different regions to understand their culture & traditions. She likes reading books & dancing. She also has a passion for art & crafts along with hosting shows.
Sapna Dsouza
Senior Project Associate
Shradha completed her education in Bsc in home science with a specialisation in food and nutrition. Soon after, she joined an NGO called Mineral Foundation of Goa as their Social Officer and worked with them for 15 years looking after their social programmes in the fields of health, education and women empowerment. Post which, she worked with an education company for 2 years. At Adhyayan Foundation, she looks after the Career Programme in Goa. She has travelled all over Goa as her job demands it, and that is what she enjoys about it. Shradha is a family oriented person and has to manage both work and home. She loves gardening and spending time with her twins. She strongly believes in divine interventions and always prays before she starts her day.
Shradha Dalal
Programme Manager
Career Aware Programme
Sudarshan Kasbe graduated from the Tata Institute for Social Sciences with a B.A. and M.A. in Development Studies in 2018. Motivated by his challenges in getting a quality education, Sudarshan is passionate about ensuring equal education access for youth from marginalized communities. Having grown up without the privilege of those who belong to upper castes, Sudarshan is interested in creating a level playing ground for students to develop their academic, social, and emotional skills. Through his jobs, he has learnt the importance of involving multiple stakeholders, from local teachers to high-level bureaucrats, to ensure the effectiveness of a well-intentioned policy. He aims to research and work in education policy in developing countries. To this end, he is passionate about quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, leadership and management, and community-building.
Sudarshan Kasbe
State Coordinator
Team Tripura
Aniket has a Diploma from the FX School of Cinematography. Through his work with varied clients over the years, he has broadened his skills in storytelling. His role at Adhyayan involves visiting good schools and capturing their best practices on video which can be shared with peer schools for continuing the learning and improvement process. Travelling to remote and beautiful places, talking to the stakeholders and listening to their experience are some of the highlights of his work-day. He has a love for swimming and a passion for capturing beautiful moments with his camera and these are the things that keep him going.
Aniket Gurav
Content Consultant
Aritra, has completed his Masters in English Literature and PG Diploma in Mass communication and journalism from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. As a young professional, he started teaching Mass communication and journalism, grade 9 onwards in two private schools in Kolkata. As a TFI fellow, he worked in a low-income private school in Pune, Maharashtra. Aritra, further partnered with other organisations and donors to be able to provide quality education to the children of the school. Post fellowship, he joined TSWREIS, as an Academic Coordinator to implement a pilot program called Freedom School. Due to COVID, Aritra shifted back to his hometown and joined IPAC as an analyst. IPAC helped him see the political landscape and discourse from a different lens.
Aritra Sengupta
State Coordinator
A computer science graduate from West Bengal, Bijan has been a Teach for India fellow from Pune and has a good amount of experience working in the government school ecosystem. He has worked in a diverse set of roles in the sector, starting as a teacher, then working on school development and later as a curriculum designer in the Ed-tech sector. He likes to travel to new places, meet new people and have new experiences. He also likes to watch movies, play cricket and football.
Bijan Singh Singha
Project Manager
Dhalai
Manju Gupta is the recipient of the National Teachers Award 1999, Pride of India award, Inspiring educators award, Acharya Siromani. She has over 47 years of diverse work experience out of which for 28 years is as Principal of Schools with CBSE, Cambridge, and IBO Curriculums. She worked at DPS-Haridwar, Navrachana-Sama, Navrachana International, Vadodara as Founder Principal and she just retired as Principal Kothari International School, Noida. She briefly worked with CBSE Academic cell too. Manju has completed her Masters in Physics, B.Ed., and certifications in Strategic Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Curriculum development, People development, Entrepreneurial Skill development. She is a trainer with Pearson, CBSE, IBO, Cambridge International, Image Consultants, I -create, Lion Quest, Intel- teach to future etc. She is a strong advocate of high, sustainable educational standards & for corporate responsibility in the management of schools and leaves no stone unturned for enhancing “the Learning and Happiness Quotient” of the people in her sphere of Influence.
Manju Gupta
Senior Trainer
Rishika has completed her integrated course on Master of Social Work from Assam University, Silchar, with a specialisation in Disaster Management. During her integrated course, she was exposed to 5 years of intensive field experience in rural as well as urban areas, where throughout her practical experiences; she has developed her interpersonal, research and data analysis and documentation skills. After Post Graduation, with the intent to create change, Rishika joined Gandhi Fellowship where she was placed in Mumbai for 2 years. After completing her fellowship, she worked as a Curriculum Designer at Swiflearn (Edu tech Company) for 4 months, where she designed and developed lesson plans for Spoken English and Personality Development classes of classes 5-9. She was also working as a National Coordinator in Pratyek, Delhi.