Tahera Akhter

Bangladeshi educator building schools for marginalized girls in rural flood zones

Tahera Akhter founded Shikhyā Sangha in 2003 to provide education for girls in Bangladesh's flood-prone regions. Growing up in a village where only 12% of women are literate, she pioneered floating schools that operate during monsoon seasons. These "boat schools" now serve 25,000 girls annually in 150+ communities.

Her 2012 innovation, Digital Shāla, uses solar-powered tablets to deliver STEM education. This program has increased girls' science literacy from 7% to 58% in project areas. Akhter's partnership with UNICEF expanded the model to flood zones in Nepal and Myanmar.

In 2019, she launched the Girls Innovation Lab, a makerspace where 3,000+ girls have developed disaster-resistant housing designs. Her TED Talk 'Building Futures on Floodwaters' (2021) has 1.8M views. Akhter's Monsoon Education Framework is now UNDP's global model for climate-resilient schooling.