Best of 2025: Meet the 10 Educators Who Turned 2025 Into a Year of Hope, Innovation & Learning |
2026 is around the corner, and before we set foot into it, here’s flipping the pages of the past year to celebrate those who’ve made it better for thousands through their work. We’re shining the lens on ordinary citizens who’ve pushed the boundaries of resilience to spark impact on the ground.
We bring to you 10 educators who reimagined education beyond the blackboard. Across Indian cities, these educators have been teaching young minds to dream big and to never let their current circumstances define their aspirations.
The Gujarat journalist constantly wondered if his articles were having the intended impact on society, or changing it for the better in any way. In 2016, he quit to start KEDI (Kids for the Environment Development Initiative), which would be premised on a practical, hands-on model.
While the KEDI Haat introduces children to the economics of farming, the KEDI Mela sees children sell around 2,000 kg of terrace-grown greens and 3,500 kg of soil-grown vegetables. What started in 2016 as a single school’s semester-long farming module has now grown to reach nearly 20,000 children across five schools in Vadodara.
Read their full journey here.
In the hills of Uttarakhand, a couple, Shrey (33) and Jyoti Rawat (31), have started Suraah, a student-centric alternate schooling movement in Dehradun’s Katapatthar village. Inspiration was always close to home for Shrey, who grew up on stories of his grandmother, Anari Devi, who walked 300 km in the 1930s to write her Class 5 examination, and his grandfather, Surendra Singh Rawat, who led many social movements in Uttarakhand.
Through Suraah, Shrey and Jyoti are creating a curriculum that includes forest walks, lessons focused on developing emotional intelligence, football, kitchen gardening, etc. There are currently 70 students studying at the school.
Read the full journey