Prerna Mittal

Empowering marginalized girls through Sarvah’s education initiatives in rural India

Prerna Mittal: Bridging Education Gaps for Rural Girls

Prerna Mittal is an Indian social entrepreneur and founder of Sarvah, a nonprofit that provides free education and mentorship to girls in India’s underserved regions. Launched in 2015, Sarvah operates 200+ learning centers across six states, reaching over 50,000 girls annually. Mittal’s model combines technology with community engagement to combat dropout rates, which affect 30% of rural Indian girls by age 14.

Innovative Approach to Gender Equality

Sarvah’s flagship program, Girl2Leader, uses mobile apps and hybrid classrooms to teach STEM, life skills, and leadership. Mittal’s partnership with Women’s World Banking has introduced financial literacy modules, while her School-in-a-Box initiative delivers preloaded tablets to remote villages. A 2022 study by UNICEF India found that Sarvah participants are 75% more likely to pursue higher education.

Global Recognition and Scalability

Mittal’s work earned her a Echoing Green Fellowship in 2017 and inclusion in Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list. She has expanded Sarvah’s model to Bangladesh and Ethiopia, adapting it to local contexts. Mittal advocates for policy changes to prioritize girls’ education in national curricula, leveraging data from Sarvah’s 100,000+ student impact assessments.