Page 70 - EW-January-2026

People

Extraordinary educationist Direct talk. “Our objective is to ‘edu-
cate, empower and transform’ chil-
dren, youth and women. Our flagship
project — the VIDYA School, Guru-
gram — has transformed the lives
of over 5,000 children by providing
them high-quality English-medium
education. Several of our alumni
have gone into higher education at
the IITs, IIMs and are employed with
leading multinational companies.
Moreover, our Digital Empower-
ment Program, under which we run
150 centres nationwide, has been
transformative for underprivileged
women and youth. It has become a
cornerstone of our mission, bridging
the digital divide and creating path-
ways to employment and entrepre-
neurship,” says Misra.
Contributing generously for trans-
VIDYA founder-president Rashmi Misra: “educate, empower, transform” formational growth are VIDYA’s
major donors (annual budget: Rs.20
ASHMI MISRA is founder- playing in a sewage pool near the crore) who include BOSCH, HDFC
president of Vidya Integrated IIT-Delhi campus and was struck by Credila, Barclays, Starbucks Founda-
RDevelopment for Youth and the deep inequality of the education tion, and Canara Bank. With their
Adults (VIDYA, estb.1985), an NGO system. I invited the five girls playing funding and enablement VIDYA is
providing education and skills train- there to my home for tutoring. That’s all set to establish a Rs.26 crore Dis-
ing to 200,000 underprivileged chil- how VIDYA began. Subsequently, I covery and Innovation Hub currently
dren and adults in 14 cities including started conducting informal classes under construction on its school
New Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, for children from nearby slums with campus in Gurugram. Spanning over
Pune, Chennai and Bengaluru. It the help of volunteers,” recalls Misra. 80,000 sq. ft across five floors, the
also runs the CBSE-affiliated VIDYA Beginning with teaching five chil- hub will host STEAM and Tinkering
School, Gurugram (estb.2009) that dren at home, Misra has painstak- labs, Digital and Resource Center,
provides free-of-charge English-me- ingly nurtured and developed VIDYA Start-up & Freelance Incubator, and
dium K-12 education to 1,100 chil- into an influential and impactful dedicated spaces for women to ac-
dren from low-income households. pan-India NGO. Currently, VIDYA quire vocational skills and showcase
Newspeg. On November 23, VIDYA has 400 full-time employees and over their businesses.
South Zone held a Town Hall event 900 volunteers working on 300 proj- Future plans. Even as the Hub is
in Bangalore to mark 15 years of im- ects countrywide directly impacting 8 scheduled to be ready by 2027, Misra
pactful service. Earlier, on November lakh children in nine states. has drawn up ambitious plans to
13, VIDYA West Zone celebrated 25 VIDYA’s initiatives are mapped upgrade VIDYA’s other programmes.
years of service since its establish- to the three main sub-themes of “We plan to scale our projects to
ment at IIT-Bombay in 2000. Prime Minister Modi’s Viksit Bharat reach 1 million beneficiaries over the
History. A history postgraduate (developed India) goal set for 2047 next five years. As India progresses
of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, — “education for all; environment towards attaining the Viksit Bharat
trained Odissi dancer and a for- sustainability; and innovation, sci- 2047 goal, we are committed to con-
mer administrator at the Austrian ence and technology”. Major projects tributing towards this objective by
Embassy in New Delhi, Misra taught include the Bal Vihar Primary School empowering underserved communi-
German at the Modern School, in Delhi; VIDYA School, Gurugram, ties through education, skills training
Vasant Vihar, for over a decade NIOS bridge programmes, scholar- and holistic development which are
before promoting VIDYA in 1985 ship schemes; women empower- essential prerequisites,” says this
in her home at IIT-Delhi, where ment and community development extraordinary educationist.
her husband Dr. Ashok Misra was programmes, and digital literacy for May your tribe increase!
a professor. “I witnessed children children, youth and women. Summiya Yasmeen (Bengaluru)

70 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2026