Page 8 - Amita Chauhan

HISTORY

milestones

n 1972, immediately after completing her postgrad degree in Sanskrit with top honours
I from Kurukshetra University, Amita married Dr. Ashok Chauhan and the newly wed cou-
ple moved to Germany the same year. Over the next two decades, Dr. Ashok Chauhan, a
chemical engineering postgrad of Wurzburg University, transformed into the most suc-
cessful businessman of Indian origin in continental Europe as founder-chairman of the AKC
Group of companies. Meanwhile, Amita focused on building strong ties between India and
Germany in the areas of art, culture, sports, academics, science and technology even as she
raised her five boys — Atul, Aseem, Ajit, Abhay, Amol and daughter Sapna. While resident in
Germany she founded the Institute of Vedic Culture and also served on the Board of Gover-
nors of the Frankfurt International School.

After two decades in Germany and traveling the world experiencing diverse cultures, the
Chauhans resolved to return to India to contribute their effort to boosting the Indian econ-
omy which was experiencing historic liberalisation and deregulation. The duo with their six
children returned to India and entered the education sector to establish world class institu-
tions in the country of their origin. In 1991 the Amity Group’s flagship Amity International
School was set up in south Delhi’s upscale Saket area. Since then the number of Amity In-
ternational schools has risen to 17 in India and six abroad, in Singapore, Amsterdam, South
Africa, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

“We decided to return to India after 20 years of living abroad because we were driven by
a strong desire to give back to the country that had given us so much and to contribute
towards establishing India as a global knowledge powerhouse. Looking back, it’s very sat-
isfying that the Amity Group has grown into an education multinational providing 175,000
children and youth preschool-Ph D education in India and overseas, and is making a signifi-
cant contribution to the growth of the Indian economy and national development,” says Dr.
Amita Chauhan, who has also established four Amitasha free-of-charge class I-XII schools
for 1,500 underprivileged girls in Delhi NCR. In addition RBEF has also established Atulasha,
a free-of-charge after-school programme educating 800 underprivileged male children of
Delhi.

With the evolution of the Amity Group into a massive preschool to Ph D education con-
glomerate dispensing high-quality globally benchmarked education across the spectrum,
under family division of labour, Dr. Ashok Chauhan and the couple's five highly-educated
sons manage the group’s nine universities with 11 campuses in India and 16 abroad. Dr.
Amita Chauhan is chairperson of the 23 Amity International Schools in India and abroad
while Wharton Business School (USA) alumna daughter Sapna Chauhan is the promot-
er-chairperson of six Amiown pre-primary schools operational in Delhi NCR.

Dr. Amita Chauhan & daughter Sapna

60 | 21 Leaders Transforming Indian Education