Dr MADHAV CHAVAN is a Co-founder, President and CEO of Pratham, an organization that reaches three million primary school children in India every year.
Dr Chavan has metamorphosed his life. He acquired a Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Ohio State University in 1983. On returning to India in 1986, he commenced teaching at the University of Mumbai. Restless, in 1989 he launched a mass scale project for adult literacy in the slums of Mumbai. In 1994, as a result of an UNICEF initiative, Dr. Chavan formally established Pratham to address problems of primary education in Mumbai.
Beyond Mumbai, Pratham reaches out to millions of children living in rural and urban areas through a range of interventions. Dr. Chavan ensures that all Pratham programs address higher enrollment in schools, increased 'learning' in schools and communities, greater reach to less privileged children, and high replicability of models.
Dr Chavan believes in ideation for innovation. As a result, the Pratham team is built of cross-industry and cross-functional members. Each funnels their experience and perspective to the common vision of improving the future of our children.
Under Dr Chavan's leadership, Pratham has become a powerful voice in the area of educational reform. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), facilitated by Pratham, is referred to by the Central and State Governments for formulating various plans and policies.
Pratham programs are aimed at supplementing rather than replacing governmental efforts. As a result, Pratham has signed MOUs with eight state governments for their flagship program 'Read India' and are working in close collaboration with the municipal corporations of Mumbai and Delhi.
We congratulate Dr. Madhav Chavan. Our Qimpro Gold Standard 2012 for Education.