Sneha Dubey

Revolutionized rural education in India through mobile-based learning platforms, reaching over 2 million students in underserved communities.

Sneha Dubey is the CEO of eLearnRural, a nonprofit organization that leverages mobile technology to deliver affordable education to India’s rural poor. Growing up in a village in Bihar, Dubey witnessed how lack of access to schools perpetuated the cycle of poverty. In 2020, she founded eLearnRural with the mission to provide quality education via SMS and low-bandwidth apps. The platform’s curriculum covers STEM, life skills, and vocational training, delivered in local languages like Hindi and Bengali. By 2024, eLearnRural had reached 2.3 million students across 15 states, with a 75% retention rate. Dubey’s work earned her the UN SDG Action Award in 2022 for her contribution to Goal 4 (Quality Education).

Her innovative approach includes partnerships with telecom companies to provide free data bundles for educational content. In 2023, Dubey launched the Digital Shiksha Bus, a fleet of solar-powered vehicles equipped with tablets and Wi-Fi, bringing classrooms to remote areas. The initiative has been replicated in Nepal and Bangladesh, showcasing its scalability. A vocal advocate for girls’ education, she co-founded the Girls Code India initiative, teaching coding to 50,000 girls by 2024. Dubey’s TED Talk, "How Mobile Phones Are Rewriting Education in India," has over 1.5 million views. Her memoir, Lighting Up Minds: One SMS at a Time, details her journey and challenges, including gender bias in the tech sector. eLearnRural’s impact is also documented in the BBC documentary "India’s Digital Classroom Revolution."