Lakshmi Puri

Indian social entrepreneur bridging rural-urban education gaps through tech innovation

Lakshmi Puri is the founder of Saksham Education Network, a 2022-launched initiative that has revolutionized STEM education access for rural Indian girls. Her Digital Learning Pods system uses low-cost Raspberry Pi devices and AI tutors to deliver personalized curricula in villages with limited infrastructure. By 2024, this platform had reached 120,000 girls across 18 states, with 85% of participants securing university admissions in technical fields.

Puri's breakthrough came with the Code the Future program (2023), which partnered with NASA's STEM Engagement Division to offer coding internships to top performers. Her TEDx Talk Why Rural Girls Are the Future of Tech (2024) challenged traditional education paradigms.

Innovative partnerships include collaborations with Microsoft's Airband Initiative to provide internet access and UNICEF's Girls' Education Accelerator. Puri was featured in the 2024 UN Report Breaking Barriers: Tech Access for Marginalized Youth and received India's Padma Shri honor in 2025 for social innovation. Her upcoming initiative, Girls' Innovation Hubs, plans to establish 500 rural tech centers by 2026.