Leadership
Founders
Savitha Ravi
Co-Founder and Director
Always a child at heart, Savitha discovered her love for children and teaching when she was given an opportunity to work with children at her son’s school as a resource person for creative writing and personality development. What started as a part-time engagement gradually transformed into a full-time role when her ideas and approaches were recognised to be progressive and effective.
After working at different schools in various capacities ranging from event manager to special educator to curriculum developer and so on, practising different philosophies across varied age groups and diverse learners, Savitha co-founded Pramiti. What started as a preschool following the Montessori method of teaching is now a K-12 school which is affiliated to Cambridge International. 25 years of actively working with children and educators has helped Savitha understand education from different perspectives while also enabling her to set an example of how alternate methods of teaching can be married with the rigour and discipline, a matrimony that she views as being essential for our world today.
As an extension of her efforts towards experimenting and discovering new ways of learning and teaching, Savitha co-founded Ekayana Learner’s Huddle to bridge a current gap in science education during early childhood. She serves as the Chief Learning Officer and oversees curriculum development, research and teacher training.
Savitha has received accolades from Brindavan Education Trust and the Gurusreshta award for her relentless efforts in the field of teaching and inclusion. Throughout her journey she has continued to learn and grow herself to better service her children and the adults who work with her. Her Montessori training with IMTC, her CITDL certification for Cambridge International and her qualifications in Early Intervention for the differently abled from the Spastics Society of Karnataka have not only helped her learn but have opened doors to numerous opportunities to spread Pramiti’s approach towards inclusive and differentiated education at symposiums, training events and workshops. Savitha has been a HundrED.org Ambassador for the past two years and, more recently, she has been invited to be a member of the HundrEd Academy which consists of all stakeholders in education, from educators to students and innovators to experts from a wide variety of countries. Savitha's expertise and insights drive their selection of the annual 100 Global Collection.
Never of the opinion that one has reached a pinnacle of achievement, she continues her journey of discovery and exploration with children actively learning every day as in her own words, “There is always room for improvement and betterment; learning never stops for any one!”
Ravi Srinivasan
Co-Founder and Managing Trustee
Ravi's interest in becoming an educator is twofold. Firstly, he wants to be able to offer his combined experience and learnings from professional adaptations and the academic pursuit of science and technology studies to mould the minds and personalities of the next generation of leaders. He is also keen to learn and absorb fresh perspectives and new paradigms of thinking that these young learners are going to bring. He wants to kindle the curiosity of young learners and guide them through the process of exploring and rediscovering our world through science.
In 2011, along with Savitha, Ravi co-founded Pramiti where he currently holds the position of Academic Director for Science and Technology Learning. He is also the Managing Trustee of the school. In this capacity he is involved in formulating the vision, strategising the pathways to bring that vision to fruition and taking care of the business operations of the school.
As the Academic Director, Ravi is involved in providing direction towards the design of curricula for the natural sciences and computational sciences. He also guides the facilitators on the specific methods of instruction, discourse and assessment that are adopted for these subjects. Leveraging his nearly three-decades’ worth of experience in the engineering and technology industry, he brings the realities of the ever-changing world of technology and science to what can otherwise become a static STEM education. In order to ensure that his input to the process of curriculum design is informed by the realities of today’s generation of budding leaders, he also teaches computer science to learners in Grades 6, 7 and 8.
Ravi's professional experiences span 30 years of corporate engagement in the technological development industry working throughout the development pipeline from engineering and architecture to production and business development. Over the past 20 years of his career, he has focused exclusively on entrepreneurial efforts in the technological space with numerous startups and successful exits under his belt. The past 4 years has seen an entrepreneurial sojourn into new roads at the intersection of technology and education with Ravi's brainchild Ekayana Learner's Huddle.
As part of Ekayana, offering what he learnt through starting multiple ventures with successful exits, he runs programmes that focus on developing the mindsets of entrepreneurship and creative expression. He is actively involved in developing an enduring framework for schools that helps to introduce scientific phenomena and nurture science process skills in children during their early years.
Ravi has authored several technical papers and has been an invited panelist and technical committee member for multiple user group events and technical forums. He also mentors students around the globe as part of the New York Academy of Sciences, Global STEM Alliance Program where he facilitates students in solving real world problems, addressing issues they care about and collaborating in ways that reflect the world of work.
Advisory Members
Dr. Satish Inamdar (In Memoriam)
Director, The Valley School, KFI
A surgeon with specialisation in cancer surgery from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Dr. Inamdar was closely associated with the KFI since 1988. Deeply interested in J. Krishnamurti’s teachings, he was a trustee of the governing body of the foundation.
An active voice in bringing forth important issues facing parenting and education, Dr. Inamdar will be remembered for the love and affection that he showed to every student, parent, teacher, and staff at Pramiti.
Dr. Richard Rose
Professor Emeritus, Inclusive Education, University of Northampton
Richard Rose was born in the city of Gloucester in England and now lives in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside. As a teacher, researcher and advocate for children’s rights he has been privileged to work in many parts of the world. For more than twenty years he has travelled regularly to India to work on research and development projects with teachers, families and others committed to providing access to schools and effective learning for children from marginalised communities.
Richard is the author of more than hundred academic publications and his work on education and children’s rights has been translated into several languages. His fiction, poetry and essays have been published in a wide range of international literary journals and anthologies.
Hari Ravikumar
Writer, Violinist, Educator and Litterateur
Hari Ravikumar is a writer/translator, violinist, and designer based in Bengaluru, India. He is the Contributing Editor (Philosophy) of the online journal Prekshaa and works in an advisory capacity at multiple educational institutes. He has co-written more than fifteen books, primarily related to philosophy. His interests include classical arts, literature, education pedagogy, and films.
Dr. B. S. Ramachandra
Chairman and Director, CFRCE
Dr. B.S Ramachandra is a Mathematical Physicist, Educationist, NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming ) Coach and Peak Performance consultant. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and his PhD in Mathematical Physics (General Relativity, Black Holes) at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIAP), Bangalore, India. In the course of obtaining his doctorate and eventual post-doctoral research, Dr. Ramachandra found himself powerfully drawn to the cause of education in India. He co-founded the Centre for Fundamental Research and Creative Education (CFRCE), Bangalore, India of which he is currently the Chairman and Director. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Poornaprajna Institute for Scientific Research (PPISR). Along with extensive research interests, Dr. Ramachandra has vast and varied teaching experience of over two decades at diverse levels, ranging from the primary to the secondary, undergraduate and post-graduate levels. He is a NLP Master Practitioner, Reiki Master and also certified in Montessori Primary level of instruction. As a mentor and teacher, Dr. Ramachandra has inspired many teachers and students to achieve outstanding excellence and choose careers in accord with their creative talent. He is a motivational speaker and is invited to give many a public talk throughout the year. He has participated in seminars and conducted workshops at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, The Bangalore Science Forum, BITS – Pilani, ACE Creative Centre, Bangalore, Deeksha Centre For Learning and at many schools, colleges and Educational Trusts.