Aditya Natraj

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2008

Aditya Natraj

Indian School of Education

Ahmedabad, India

Education & Youth Leadership

The Bold Idea:

Training principals to turn around failing rural public schools in India.

India’s 700,000 rural public schools are failing to provide children with basic skills. Over 110 million school-aged children are illiterate; half of them drop out after less than four years of primary schooling. Principals are in the best position to turn their schools around. However, in India, principals are not required to undergo any training or certification before appointment and, thus, most have a difficult time fostering change.

Indian School of Education (ISE) will run a three-year, in-service leadership development program for rural public school principals to build the skills needed to improve student achievement and completion rates. The program will combine workshops with well-supported in-school projects and on-the-job coaching and mentoring. Principals will be trained to build consensus around a clear vision for the school and coach teachers to dramatically improve learning and engage with gender, caste and other social issues of rural communities. ISE will be the first institution in India to certify principals, creating a benchmark for quality in school leadership.

Aditya Natraj pitching at Echoing Green Selection Weekend (May 2, 2008)

Biography:

As Programme Director of the Gujrat state operations of Pratham, India’s largest educational NGO, Aditya Natraj has worked to improve public education for the last six years. He has run volunteer-led campaigns to promote reading in over 3,000 villages, programs for building capacities of public school teachers, and management training sessions for local village communities. Aditya earned his MBA from INSEAD and worked for seven years in consulting, corporate finance, and business development.

Moment of Obligation: What experiences led to the desire to start your own organization?
Over the last six years I have roamed the villages of India working for Pratham. I have seen how everyone in education passes the buck and things don’t change. I have also seen schools where despite all the negative odds, the system works. Four years ago, I met Saurabh Patel, a principal in a small desert village. Undaunted by the negative school culture he inherited, the apathetic teachers and disinterested community, Saurabh was putting all his energy and passion into slowly undoing the mess his school was in. Standing in that isolated village school, I realized that that if the passion and methods of Saurabh were replicated across India through structured leadership training programmes for principals, all schools could be turned around like this one.

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to dream big and take on deeply entrenched social and difficult problems? (Such as experiences, skills, events, etc.)
I have always been inspired by the quote, “The biggest risk in life is not taking enough risk.”

New and Untested: What's innovative about your new idea for social change?
We will run India’s first comprehensive in-service programme for training government school principals to turn around their failing schools. Currently, government school principals in India are not trained. The senior most teacher becomes the principal with no specific training to handle the additional responsibilities of running an institution, coaching teachers, and managing relationships with parents and the community.

Seeing Possibilities: What are the most important qualities to be a successful social entrepreneur?
Empathy. Not sympathy or apathy. Gandhi, Mandela, and Martin Luther King—I believe the one quality that made them endearing was not their intellectual sharpness or skills in organizing but the empathy they had for the people they worked with and for.

Which musical artists/albums get you going and keep you inspired?
Anything with soul—contemporary Sufi, Bollywood, Dire Straits, Sting, Cheb Mami.

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?
The Art of Living by William Hart, based on the teachings of S.N. Goenka, explains Buddhist philosophy in a way that alters any reader’s life permanently. Making Democracy Work by Robert Putnam helped me understand my role as a citizen in a democracy. Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire is a classic for anyone interested in education.

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?

• google.com (That’s the starting point for exploring the most obscure questions that come to mind.)
• facebook.com (to keep in touch with friends from across the world.)

What advice or quote do you keep close to your heart as a social change leader?
“The journey is the destination.” - Dan Eldon