Page 7 - Neerja Birla

NEERJA BIRLA

Founder-Chairperson, Aditya Birla Education Trust

E ducationist and mental health evangelist Neerja Birla is founder-chairperson of the
Aditya Birla Education Trust (ABET, estb. 2008). Within the short span of a decade, the trust,
which is “committed to the cause of education and mental health with the overarching goal of
nurturing young minds and helping them fulfil their innate potential”, has promoted the Aditya
Birla World Academy (ABWA, estb. 2008) and The Aditya Birla Integrated School (TABIS, 2014) in
Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital. Conceptualised and piloted by her, the Cambridge In-
ternational (UK) and IB (Geneva)-affiliated ABWA is ranked India’s #3 international day school in the
EducationWorld India School Rankings 2019-20, and TABIS is ranked #2 nationally in the special
needs schools category. The trust’s latest initiative, the Aditya Birla Education Academy (estb. 2018),
provides high-quality teacher training and professional development programmes.

In 2016, Birla launched Mpower — “a holistic mental healthcare initiative” — to combat social stig-
ma associated with mental healthcare, provide clinical services and promote mental health aware-
ness. “All our initiatives have broken new ground in education. ABWA is an international school with
an Indian soul providing contemporary pedagogies and holistic curriculums rooted in Indian tradi-
tions and values. TABIS is a pioneer in providing customised education to children with disabilities,
and Mpower has initiated a nationwide crusade to stamp out social stigma associated with mental
healthcare. Now with the Aditya Birla Education Academy, our objective is to provide world-class
professional development programmes to Indian educators and teachers,” says Birla.