Vera Kelkar

Pioneering Indian social entrepreneur who revolutionized rural education through innovative mobile schools

Vera Kelkar (1905-1972) was a visionary social reformer from Maharashtra, India, whose groundbreaking work in rural education transformed access to learning for marginalized communities. Born into a Parsi-Zoroastrian family, Kelkar defied societal norms by pursuing higher education at a time when less than 10% of Indian women were literate. Her most notable contribution was the creation of the Mobile School Initiative in 1938, which used converted horse-drawn carts to deliver education to remote villages across the Deccan Plateau. This innovative approach reached over 25,000 children in its first decade, establishing a model later adopted by UNESCO's literacy programs.

Contrary to traditional stationary schools, Kelkar's mobile units featured multilingual curricula (Hindi, Marathi, and English) and gender-inclusive classrooms. She partnered with local leaders through her British Library archived correspondence, negotiating land use for permanent school foundations. Her 1946 publication Education on Wheels became a global reference, influencing similar programs in Kenya and Bangladesh. Kelkar's legacy persists through the Vera Kelkar Rural Education Trust, which operates 150+ schools using her pedagogical frameworks. Her work predates modern concepts like mobile libraries and provides early examples of community-driven education solutions.