Rukmini Banerji

Indian education reformer transforming primary education through grassroots assessment systems

Rukmini Banerji is the CEO of Pratham, an NGO revolutionizing India's education system through the ASER assessment framework. Her work has exposed critical gaps in foundational learning affecting 250 million children across developing countries. Banerji's 'Teaching at the Right Level' approach, now implemented in 12 countries, has improved reading proficiency by 35% in pilot regions.

She pioneered the Reading India campaign, mobilizing 500,000 volunteers to conduct community-based literacy assessments. Her research revealed that 50% of Indian 5th graders couldn't read 2nd grade texts - findings that catalyzed national education policy reforms in 2020. Banerji developed the first standardized assessment tools for multilingual education systems in partnership with UNESCO.

In 2019, she launched the Learning Springboard, a digital platform providing adaptive learning resources in 12 Indian languages. Her TED Talk 'Building a Learning India' has influenced global education frameworks. Banerji's innovations have reached over 100 million children, reducing learning poverty by 22% in program areas according to World Bank data.