Shaheen Mistri

Shaheen Mistri
Born (1971-03-16) 16 March 1971
Mumbai, India
Residence Mumbai, India
Nationality Indian
Education BA, MA
Alma mater University of Mumbai, University of Manchester
Occupation CEO, Teach For India
Known for Akanksha Foundation & Teach For India
Board member of Ummeed
Latika Roy Foundation
Thermax Social Initiatives Foundation
Religion Parsi
Children 2 daughters
Website http://www.teachforindia.org

Shaheen Mistri (born 16 March 1971) is an Indian social activist and educator. She is a founder of the Akanksha Foundation, an Indian educational initiative in Mumbai and Pune, and is also the CEO of Teach For India since 2008.[1]

Early life

Shaheen Mistri was born in Mumbai, India in a Parsi family. She had an international upbringing and grew up in various countries, including Lebanon, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and the United States as she moved countries with her father, a senior banker with Citigroup.[2] After attending boarding school in Connecticut, she moved to India for higher education. She graduated with a BA degree in Sociology from St. Xavier's College, University of Mumbai and later obtained a Masters in Education from the University of Manchester.[3][4] Before launching the Akanksha Foundation, Shaheen's interest in children's education led her to volunteer as a teacher in diverse organizations in Mumbai, such as the Happy Home and School for the Blind and the E.A.R. school for the Hearing Impaired.[5]

Career

Shaheen Mistri, as a young college student, walked into the Mumbai slums and expressed her desire to teach the less privileged children who roamed the streets.[6] To fulfill this goal, she founded the Akanksha Foundation, a non-profit organisation working primarily in education, at the age of 20 to impact the lives of such children. Over a period of 20 years, her Akanksha Foundation, which started with just 15 children in one centre, now teaches 3,500 children in 58 centres and six schools. In the summer of 2008, she took on a leadership role at Teach For India which enlists India's most promising college graduates and young professionals to spend two years teaching in low-income schools and attempt to bridge the educational gap in the country.[7]

Board memberships

Shaheen also sits on the boards of Ummeed, and the Thermax Social Initiatives Foundation and is an advisor to the Latika Roy Foundation.

Published works

Awards

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.