Meet our Governing Board
Our Guiding Light
Governing Board
Kavita Mangal - Member
Kavita Mangal is a B.Sc graduate from Govt. P.G College of SWM and has a B.Ed from Karnataka State Women’s University, Vijaypura. She joined GSK as a Science teacher and later was appointed as the team leader as a part of the adopt programme at the Govt. Upper primary school at Shivaji Nagar Sawai Madhopur. Currently, she is working as a teacher at the Govt. Upper Primary School in Nimli Khurd SWM.
Krishnavatar Sharma - President
Krishnavatar Sharma is the co-founder and Director (Programmes) of Aajeevika Bureau - a widely recognized public service initiative to provide services and support to millions of vulnerable migrant workers. Krishna holds a degree in law and has over three decades of experience in leading rural development and urban inclusion programmes. He won the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2010.
Vijendra Pal - Member
Vijendra Pal is an author and an amateur wildlife painter. He is currently the headmaster of the Government Secondary School, Kutalpura Jatan in Sawai madhopur. He believes in improving the quality of education in the district and works towards improving the same.
Sachin Sachdeva - Co-founder and member
Sachin has worked with development initiatives for 30 years. He is a graduate of IRMA, and he assisted communities to make decisions for themselves from a position of strength. He has worked with various organizations including grass-root initiatives at SWM, ARAVALI in Rajasthan, Agha Khan Foundation, Afghanistan & Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. He is also co-founder of organizations such as ARTH, Aajeevika Bureau, Shram Sarathi Association and Centre for Social Ecology. He is currently the Director-India of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Dr. Sanjana Mohan
Sanjana is the co-Founder and Director at Basic HealthCare Services. Her experience spans to over 20 years and includes clinical services in RNT Medical College Udaipur and managing large community-based health programs. She also coordinated the first research study in India on the community-based management of severely malnourished children. Sanjana holds MBBS and an MD in Pediatrics from the University of Rajasthan and has studied Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Pavan Chandra - Communication advisor
Pavan has been a media communication practitioner for 27 years. This journey has taken him across various parts of India, Jordan, Palestine, Yemen, Singapore and Taiwan. He is in charge of special projects and communication at Gramin Shiksha Kendra.
Jyotsna Lall - Co- Founder and member
Jyotsna is alumni from IRMA with a Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Management (PGDRM). She is one of the co-founders of Gramin Shiksha Kendra and is currently working as a Director of programmes in AKTC and has settled in Jaipur.
Rampal Gurjar - Member
Rampal Ji is a farmer by profession and one of the founding members of GSK. He is a socially conscious community member and drives for social and educational changes for the improvement of the community.
Prithviraj Meena - Co Founder
A young farmer with the urge to learn everything that he had not been able to in school and to lead. He is also one of the founding members of the organization who later became Zilla Pramukh of Sawaimadhopur district.
Radhey Shyam Sain - Chief Operating Officer and Secretary (Co-Founder)
Mr. Radhey Shyam Sain is one of the cofounder of the organization and has been a part of the organization from its initiation. His experience with the WWF and the drive to improve the opportunities for his societies drove the need for the organization.
Kalyan Hiraman - Member
Kalyan Hiraman used to live at Mordungri, a village that was relocated in 2011. His voice of demanding improvement for his community was the one that unfolded to the planning that gave birth to Gramin Shiksha Kendra. Dissatisfied with the education in the area, Kalyan ji and other likeminded people decided to form their own school. In 2014 Uday School – Girirajpura was established when Kalyan Ji and others approached GSK to set up a school for the relocated communities.
Harsahay Jaga - Member
Harsahay Jaaga, hails from a family displaced from their village Mordungri in Ranthambhore tiger project area. He has been associated with the organization since its registration. He performs Bhajan, and Kirtans for a living.
Vardhna - Member
Vardhna Puri completed her Masters in Human Development and Childhood Studies from the University of Delhi. She worked with the Aga Khan Development Network and more recently was a consultant for the English program with Gramin Shiksha Kendra. Currently, she is enrolled as a PhD student with the University of Delhi and is studying childhood, migration and policy implications.
Prof. Preeti Priya - Member
Dr. Preeti Priya is a Professor of Marketing at IRMA. She has a PhD in Management (Sardar Patel University), a UG in Agricultural Sciences (from BHU) and PG in Agriculture Sciences from IRMA. Prior to IRMA, she held a managerial position in Nielsen Company, India during 2000-06. She has worked on research funded by IDRC, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CBM India, Tata Steel, SAIL etc. Currently, her research projects include measurement of women empowerment, gender approach in human-computer interaction and post-harvest challenges of smallholder farmers.
Shipra Suneja - Member and consultant
Shipra a new addition to our board members is a faculty member at the School of Education and is with Azim Premji University since 2017. She has worked with NGO’s such as The Teacher Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation (as a Freelance consultant) and continues to be a consultant for GSK on projects in early childhood education, curriculum, development and promoting sensitive environment in schools.
Madan Lal Meena - Member
Madan Meena is a practicing visual artist and a researcher working extensively with the rural, nomadic and tribal communities. Focusing on the women of the Meena tribe, he has documented and exhibited their art of wall painting across the country and abroad.
He was also Associate Director for the film ‘Jharu Katha (Broom Stories)’. Madan is also a recipient of a Sahapedia–UNESCO Fellowship to study folklore among the Jogi community of eastern Rajasthan.
For the People’s Linguistic Survey of India project he co-edited one of the volumes ‘The Languages of Rajasthan’.
Madan continually studies languishing craft traditions which he also teaches at some of the design institutes of India. He is also a Trustee of Bhasha Research and Publication Centre-Vadodara, Executive Member of Kota Heritage Society. One of his important responsibilities presently is with the Adivasi Academy in Gujarat where he is a Honorary Director.
Vishnu Gopal - Member
Vishnu joined the board of GSK in 2021. Vishnu has been working at GSK for the past 17 years and has played a key role in the execution of the programmes at GSK. He challenges the form of education practiced in the country and uses his reflection to execute programmes.
Shubham Garg - Member
Shubham is a development professional having more than 6 years of experience working on the inter-connected themes of Education and Governance, Gender, and Community and Youth-centric Development. Shubham is passionate about working with the marginalized communities and assisting them in their transformational development. Prior to joining the social development sector, he also worked in the Information Technology space for three years.
Shubham holds the Master’s degree in Rural Management from Institute of Rural Management Anand and is also an engineering graduate from Panjab University, Chandigarh.
Prior to joining the General Body, Shubham was the Executive Director of Gramin Shiksha Kendra between 2018 and 2022.