Mary S. M. Kondeti has over fifteen years of experience as an English teacher at Army Public School Dighi. Passionate about communication and leadership, she has mentored students in debates, MUNs, and public speaking. Currently serving as School Coordinator, she is committed to fostering inclusive learning, critical thinking, collaboration, and future-ready education.

Dr. P. V. Satya Ramesh, Doctorate in Psychology, is an educator by choice with 26 years of experience across Bharat. A CBSE Resource Person and SQAAF Reviewer, he currently leads Seth M. R. Jaipuria School, Barwani, Madhya Pradesh. Passionate about empowering educators, he strives to bring quality and inspiration to education.

Anil Srinivasan is a renowned classical pianist, composer, educator, and recipient of the prestigious Kalaimamani award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Blending Western classical piano with Carnatic traditions, he has performed globally and collaborated with leading Indian musicians. In 2012, he founded Rhapsody – Education Through Music, which now reaches over 400,000 children across South India. Anil is also a speaker on music and its impact on human behaviour and organi

With over 38 years, in the education sector, Vandna Bhatnagar is an accomplished educator, counsellor, and school administrator known for her dedication to student and parent guidance. Honoured with the Haryana State Award (2014), Forum of Citizens Award, and Rotary Leadership Awards, she is also a passionate writer who contributes poems and articles promoting environmental awareness and social responsibility.

Rev. Fr. Dr. Praveen Leo Lasrado is an education leader with extensive experience in academic administration and institutional development. He currently serves as Secretary of the Catholic Board of Education (CBE), Mangalore, overseeing a wide network of institutions and advancing academic excellence, leadership development, and value-based education across the region.

Jikmet Wangdus Jyothi, CEO, Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala School, Mysuru has an extensive experience in educational management, management teaching, hospitality, and leadership training. An MBA graduate from Switzerland, he has significant experience mentoring and teaching management studies while leading award-winning institutions. He presently serves as the Hon’ble Buddhist Member of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, Government of Karnataka.

With 30+ years in education, Dr. C. Anthony Raj has shaped countless lives as a teacher, mentor, and administrator. A PhD in Physics (Material Science), he blends academic rigor with deep compassion, having uplifted many students from marginalised backgrounds through education. Today, as Principal of Nalanda Gurukula International Public School, Kushalnagar, Coorg, he continues to lead with purpose. His excellence was recognised nationally when Education Today Magazine named

Srilatha Shirdhar Alva is a progressive educational leader and currently serve as the Principal of Manipal School, Mangalore. Her work focuses on integrating technology, innovation, safeguarding, and student well-being into everyday learning. She is passionate about experiential and inclusive education, digital literacy, and mentoring educators and students towards building future-ready learning environments.

As conversations around Artificial Intelligence continue to dominate education, schools across the world are racing to introduce coding, robotics and digital literacy into classrooms. Yet, amid this rapid transformation, an equally important question remains overlooked: are schools giving children enough opportunities to remain deeply human? While some top-tier schools proudly showcase dramatics societies, annual productions and performing arts festivals, a large number of sc

Earlier this year, I sat across from Varun Duggirala on his podcast Take a Pause. The conversation began with education boards, parenting and curriculum. Then Varun asked me about teachers. Something in that question stayed with me. I found myself speaking about things I had been carrying for years, the quiet decline in respect for teachers, the shrinking aspiration around the profession, and the contradiction of expecting teachers to transform education while not transformin

There has always been an unspoken prejudice adults carry about children: how can they be tired? Childhood, we assume, is synonymous with energy. Fatigue, in our understanding, belongs to the body—earned through labour, age, or responsibility—and not to young minds. And yet, what we are witnessing in classrooms today quietly unsettles that belief. When Pauses Disappeared There was a time when a child’s day had a natural rhythm: school, play, homework, rest. There were pauses b

In many classrooms today, information moves faster than ever before. Students can search for summaries, generate explanations through AI tools, and skim through large amounts of digital content within minutes. But the dilemma is that this focus on speed is changing how students engage with texts. Even for exams, they often rely on prompts as if they were cheat codes. Increasingly, educators are noticing a shift from slow, reflective reading to quick scanning for key points. W

“A child is a beautiful creation of God.” To provide a successful life with values to a child, knowledge is a great tool. A supportive education environment that prioritises emotional safety and active engagement leads to academic success and resilience. Being non-judgemental is the key to positive learning. Children learn best in low-stakes, supportive environments that boost confidence, reduce anxiety, and encourage emotional connection—such as reading to non-judgemental an

Over the past few months, as I have stepped into a global education media leadership role with the BRICS Educational Film & Media Association, I have found myself in conversations across countries, systems and contexts. The dominant narrative everywhere is familiar. Artificial intelligence, digital platforms, scale, access and personalisation continue to shape the discourse. And yet, the most powerful learning moments I encounter are not digital. They are human. A student fin

Understanding isn’t just absorbing information, it's taking what a student can read, see, or does and actually make sense of it. It’s in the mental filter of a student, if not attentive or interesting, the information just bounces off. But if a student ponders sufficiently long enough, processes the information and turns that raw data into actual knowledge, which is understanding. True understanding is a continuous process of active engagement, reflection, and connecting con

“My hope and wish is that one day, formal education will pay attention to what I call education of the heart, just as we take for granted the need to acquire proficiency in the basic academic subjects.” — His Holiness the Dalai Lama One in five people feel lonely on a planet of 8.3 billion, according to the Gallup Poll (2024). Can we really afford to rely solely on results like SAT, Gaokao, IIT-JEE, or GCSEs to gauge the effectiveness of a school? Learners today constantly gr

Ten years ago, the biggest technology concern in schools was whether smartphones were becoming too much of a distraction. Today, we are grappling with something far more complex—intelligent systems making decisions about students’ futures, often without anyone fully understanding how or why. The rise of Agentic AI - these self-directed systems that can think through problems, take action, and learn as they go – forces us to rethink what teaching even means anymore. It's not t

In the contemporary educational landscape, there is a pervasive drift toward “educational consumerism.” It is a framework where schools are viewed as service providers and parents as clients, with a child’s development treated as a commodity measured by the cold metrics of assessments and report cards. However, after several years in education, one realises that the most profound growth in a child doesn’t occur in the isolation of a classroom. It happens through a strong, sus

Something counterintuitive is happening at college gates across India. Students who accumulated the strongest academic records in their schools are, in disproportionate numbers, the ones who struggle most sharply in the opening months of higher education. The explanation is not that these students are less capable than they appeared. It is that the capabilities school rewarded—memorising content, performing reliably under examination conditions, following clearly marked proce

In an education landscape often driven by speed and scale, Yatharth Gautam stands out for choosing pause, reflection, and responsibility. His journey traces an evolution from corporate precision to purpose-led leadership, where the true measure of success lies beyond metrics—in the everyday realities of schools and learners. Mentor Magazine features his journey in education, his deepening engagement with learning spaces to steward impact, and a perspective that balances scale

Long before policy documents spoke of inclusion and access, Indian women educators were already living these ideals. Savitribai Phule, India’s first woman teacher, walked to school amid social hostility so that girls could learn to read, write and think. Her work was not merely about literacy; it was about dignity and resistance. Fatima Sheikh, her lesser-known but equally courageous collaborator, opened her home as the first school for girls, reminding us that educational re

Awareness and understanding of autism has grown in international and alternative schools where neurodivergence is recognized in 10 - 15% of students. While a smaller class size allows for quicker identification of learning, behavioural or socio-emotional needs, traditional schools and smaller towns often lag behind. The challenge in most schools lies in the gap between identification and actionable support. Without specialized training and resources, educators remain ill-equi

Every classroom has quiet moments when a simple word, a patient pause, or a steady presence can make all the difference. These are the times educators “hold space” for students—offering not just instruction but emotional safety. Holding space means building an environment where learners feel seen, heard, and valued, so they can navigate academic and personal challenges with confidence. Resilience over Dependency When a teacher holds space, they step beyond lesson plans and

Across India, museums have long been places of preservation. Carefully lit artefacts sit behind glass. Labels tell us what they are, where they came from, and why they matter. We walk through them respectfully, quietly absorbing information. In both museums and schools, conversations about heritage often revolve around monuments, timelines, and preservation. Students learn about historical sites through textbooks, photographs, or the occasional field visit. Yet through the wo