Amrita Puri

Indian social entrepreneur transforming rural education through solar-powered schools

Amrita Puri (b. 1978) founded Sunlit Path Foundation in 2001 to bring education to India's rural electrification-challenged communities. Her solar-powered mobile schools travel to remote villages, providing STEM education using renewable energy solutions. Puri's 2005 invention of the Solar Learning Box - a portable classroom with solar panels and educational tablets - has reached over 500,000 children. Her 2015 partnership with UNICEF expanded the program to 15 countries, establishing the first solar-powered school in Afghanistan in 2017. Puri's MIT-developed curriculum emphasizes girls' education, resulting in 70% enrollment increase among female students in partner regions. Her TEDx talk "Lighting the Path to Education" has 2.3M views. Puri's 2019 memoir 《Batteries Not Included》 chronicles her challenges in scaling sustainable education. Her work was featured in National Geographic's 2021 documentary 《Powering Futures》.