Page 127 - EducationWorld May 2022

Extraordinary Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2021-22

K. Tulasi Vishnu Prasad

n alumnus of the top-ranked NIT-Warangal, K. 2017, he was appointed general secretary of the Andhra
Tulasi Vishnu Prasad is President of the Sri Rama Pradesh Private Unaided School Managements Association
ARural Academy (SRRA), a model rural co-ed day- (APPUSMA), which has a membership of 8,000 schools
cum-boarding budget private school sited in Chilmuru statewide. Subsequently in 2018, he took charge as vice
village (pop.1,200) in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. president (quality) of the National Independent Schools
Promoted in 1949 as undivided Andhra Pradesh’s first rural Alliance (NISA), which has over 1 lakh BPS member schools
boarding school by his grandfather, the late Sri Kolasani countrywide.
Venkata Subbaiah Chowdary, a visionary educationist Over the past decade, Prasad has been in the vanguard of
committed to providing high-quality education to under- the collective struggle of BPS promoters against the educa-
served rural children, Sri Rama Rural Academy has tion ministry and in courts of law.
transformed into a progressive CBSE-affiliated K-12 school “In Sri Rama Rural Academy, we have spared no effort
providing all-round education to 1,000 students mentored to ensure that children from low-income rural households
by 40 teachers. have access to high quality education at affordable price.
In 1986, after he was awarded a postgraduate degree in Similarly, there are thousands of budget private schools
electronics and instrumentation engineering by NIT, Wa- across the country which are providing a valuable public
rangal, Prasad rejected several lucrative job offers to return service by offering affordable education options to parents
to Chilmuru village and take on the challenge of nurturing fleeing failing government schools. My mission is to en-
SRRA into a full-fledged K-12 school providing quality edu- sure that BPS schools are freed from government control
cation at affordable price to rural children. Since then as and given full freedom and autonomy to improve, develop
director and president of SRRA, Prasad has introduced sev- and upgrade into benchmark K-12 institutions producing
eral teaching-learning innovations, education management future-ready citizens,” says Prasad, who has visited over
best practices and spearheaded infrastructure upgradation 26 foreign countries to study international best education
projects to enable provision of high-quality academics practices.
supplemented with sports and co-curricular education. In For his sustained commitment to providing low-priced
the EducationWorld India Budget Private School Rankings education to under-served children in rural Andhra
2021-22, SRRA is ranked #3 in Andhra Pradesh. Pradesh, and determination to improve teaching-learning
Prasad is also a tireless crusader and champion of standards in budget private schools, the Editors and Board
budget private schools — low-fees primary-secondaries of Directors of EducationWorld are proud to present the
that provide affordable education, including English lan- EW Extraordinary Achievement in Education Leadership
guage learning, to children of low-income households. In Award 2021-22 to K. Tulasi Vishnu Prasad.

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