Team – NISA Education

Executive Committee

DR KULBHUSHAN SHARMA

President

DR KULBHUSHAN SHARMA

President

Dr Kulbhushan Sharma is President of the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), a national federation of state associations of budget private schools in India. He is also president of the Federation of Private Schools Associations, Haryana. He is also Haryana state president of the Patriotic Forum of India and state working president of the National Human Rights Protection Organisation. Previously, he was a general council member of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and the Haryana School Education Rules Review Committee.

DR J S Paranjyothi

Vice President - Advocacy

DR J S Paranjyothi

Vice President - Advocacy

Dr. J.S. Paranjyothi who is an emeritus scholar and a Dalit Ratna Awardee, while completing his graduation at C.K.M. College, Warangal, during 1977, was closely associated with and was deeply inspired by his then Principal Prof. K. Jayshankar has developed a passion for leadership through Education. He has thus developed motive "Live to Educate and Educate to Live"and started off his career as an Educator by giving free tuitions to the unprivileged School & College students at a tender age of 18 years.With Thirty years of deeply rooted passion for educational practice and research, he has emerged as a competent teacher, administrator, teacher educator,Trainer and an active intellectual. He did not confine himself to the four walls of the school. He established SHAMARY Educational Research and Training Institute, and organized several Training Programs for the Students on Study Skills, Career guidance for Parents on Parenting skills and for the Teachers on Educational Philosophy, Psychology, Methodology, Technology and Class Management Skills. The Private Schools Principals of several Districts of Andhra Pradesh were trained by Dr. Paranjyothi through his novel Training Programs called CPEP's (Correspondents' Professional Enrichment Program). Dr. J.S. Paranjyothi was also a member of the advisory committee representing the State Private Schools Association invited by the Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Department of School Education,to advise on the modifications to the Education Act and G.O. Ms. No. 1 of 1994.

MR TULASI PRASAD

Vice President - Quality

MR TULASI PRASAD

Vice President - Quality

Mr.Tulasi Prasad is the President and the third generation school leader of Sri Rama Rural Academy, one of the first residential schools in AP and Telangana established in 1949. He is a postgraduate degree holder in Electronics and Instrumentation from NIT Warangal. Also, a school leader, a good orator and is serving in many prestigious positions in different associations and organizations of educational initiatives focused on improving the quality of education. His willingness and desire to improve the quality standard of education gave him the opportunity to travel to different countries like Finland, Singapore, Malaysia, Netherlands, France, Spain, Hongkong, Malaysia, Cambodia, Srilanka, Bhutan, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sweden, Germany and use the learnings in the private budget schools in AP. He is the General Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Unaided School Management Association and is the Vice President - Quality National Independent School Alliance (NISA). He believes that the collective wisdom of the society and community of practices of different stakeholders in education is the key to improve the quality of education, thus leading to a systemic transformation of future-ready citizens.

MR Martin Kennedy

Vice President - Legal

MR Martin Kennedy

Vice President - Legal

Mr Martin Kennedy is a president of Tamil Nadu Private Schools Association. As a practicing lawyer, he has fought so many cases of land litigation and reimbursement for Budget Private Schools. Through School Voice Magazine, he also advocates for Budget Private Schools. His awards include Madras YMCA's Best Achiever Award, Genius Reporter Magazine's Eminent Educationist Award, and National Independent Schools Alliance's Best Working Private School Association Award. It is his belief that the best and most permanent way to save all Budget Private Schools across India, along with advocacy activities and quality improvement, is through legal advocacy.

DR SUSHIL GUPTA

Vice President - Initiatives

DR SUSHIL GUPTA

Vice President - Initiatives

Dr. Sushil.C.Gupta is a Director of Prelude Public School (Dayal Bagh, Agra) and President of Association of Progressive Schools of Agra (APSA). He is known for his dedicated and relentless efforts for the betterment of teachers, students, and schools. He has dedicated his life to ensuring every child has access to quality education. In order to fulfill his dream of raising the standard of education, he first opened two schools and then decided to open another unique school. It was in 2002 that he founded Prelude Public School, his dream project. With its uniqueness, Prelude draws crowds and has become one of the region's best schools. This school is committed to providing the best quality education and fostering a child's overall development. A prestigious international award has been awarded to Prelude Public School by the British Council under the expert guidance of Dr. Sushil Gupta. It has been vested with the Green School Platinum Award as well. Besides his professional attitude, he is also passionate about nature. He is very fond of greenery and wishes to make Agra, a clean and green city. The NISA Green School Program Conference was hosted by Dr. Sushil, bringing together all the players involved in making green schools a reality. The event featured 60 school leaders and teachers from 8 states and 54 schools. As the national ambassador of the NISA Green Schools Program, he complements his role.

MR RAJENDRA SINGH

Vice President-Organisation Development & Partnerships

MR RAJENDRA SINGH

Vice President-Organisation Development & Partnerships

Managing Trustee of Priyadarshani Group of School. Asia's greatest leader 2019-20. Forbes Asia's most admired brand 2022 Priyadarshani. Inspirational Leader 2023 Recipient of Education Icon by Lokmat. Recently received Femina Pune's Most Powerful 2021-22 award. In the past, Priyadarshani Schools have been recognized for their excellence in education. The inception of Priyadarshani school started with the late Shree Indraman Singh in the year 1982. The school has grown from one to seven, serving more than 12,000 students. In the past 8 years, approximately 8,000 alumni have passed out and are currently working in various fields around the world. The most important lesson they have taken away from Priyadarshani is the importance of being a "good human". Over the years, the school has received various awards for the achievements in the field of Education.

DR PREMCHAND DESWAL

Treasurer

DR PREMCHAND DESWAL

Treasurer

PREMCHAND DESWAL is the Treasurer of the National Independent Schools Alliance, President of Private Land Public Schools Association, Delhi, Member of the Executive Committee of Maharaja Surajmal Institute, Delhi, and Member of School Committee- Maharaja Surajmal Public School, Bahadurgarh, Haryana. Deswal always believes that the financial status of a strong association leads to more active advocacy and organizational development. He has also been the 'save education' campaign convener and fundraiser for the successful event that mobilized over 65000 school leaders across India

DR PARTH J SHAH

Secretary

DR PARTH J SHAH

Secretary

Dr. Parth J Shah is the Founder of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), a New Delhi-based market-liberal think tank that advances social change through public policy. Its work in education, livelihoods, and policy training promote choice and accountability across private and public sectors. To translate policy into practice, CCS engages with policy and opinion leaders through research, pilot projects, and advocacy. Parth's research and advocacy work focus on the themes of economic freedom, choice, and competition in education, property rights approach to the environment, and new public management. He is a member of the education task force of the governments of Delhi and Karnataka and serves on the Senate of the Central University of Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and has taught at the University of Michigan and been a visiting faculty at JNU, Delhi, and MS University, Vadodara. As the President of the Centre for Civil Society, he has steered the Centre's flagship School Choice Campaign, including India's first school voucher pilot reaching out to 400 students and the National Independent Schools Alliance - an alliance of 55,000 budget private schools across 20 states in India. He has worked for over two decades on education policy and market-based solutions to improving education delivery in India. He has also published extensively in Indian and international journals and has edited several books. Some of his works include Liberalism in India, Morality of Markets, Law, Liberty, and Livelihood, and School Vouchers: Direct Benefit Transfers in Education.

Advisory Board

Dr Jane Hofmeyr

Independent School Alliance of South Africa (ISASA)

Dr Jane Hofmeyr

Independent School Alliance of South Africa (ISASA)

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa is the largest and oldest association of independent (private) schools in the Southern African region. The association represents almost 700 independent schools in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, and Angola. Over 154,000 learners attend ISASA-affiliated schools.

James Tooley

Professor of Education Policy and Director Newcastle University

James Tooley

Professor of Education Policy and Director Newcastle University

Professor James Tooley is a professor of education policy at Newcastle University and director of the E.G. West Centre. He is the author of The Beautiful Tree (Penguin), briefly a best-seller in India, and winner of the 2010 Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Prize, based on his ground-breaking research on low-cost private education in India, China, and Africa. This research was awarded a gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition and was profiled in an American PBS documentary alongside the work of Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus. Building on his research, Tooley has dedicated himself to creating working models of innovative practice in low-cost private education to help showcase its potential to extend access to and improve educational opportunities for the poor. Tooley is patron of AFED, the Association of Formidable Educational Development, a federation of 3,000 low-cost private schools in Nigeria. Outside of India, he is co-founder and chairman of Omega Schools, a chain of low-cost private schools in Ghana, which in four years has grown to 40 schools with 20,000 students. Previously he has taught and researched at the Universities of Oxford and Manchester; his first job was as a mathematics teacher in Zimbabwe.

Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

Advisor

Prof. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

Advisor

Prof Kingdon holds the Chair of ‘Education Economics and International Development’ at UCL Institute of Education, University College London. Prior to this, she worked for 10 years as faculty at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford. Her research is based mostly on statistical analysis of education datasets. Based on this research, she advises governments and donor agencies such as the World Bank, European Union (EU) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) on their education-related aid to developing countries. She has frequently been a member of the Union Human Resource Development Ministry’s ‘Joint Review Missions’ of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and of the Secondary education programme (the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan), a member of the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Board (Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad), and also serves on the Government of UP’s Advisory Committee on Basic Education. In 2013, Professor Kingdon was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Kingston University London for “her outstanding contributions to education and development”.

NISA Secretariat

S R Thomas Antony

CEO

S R Thomas Antony

CEO

S R Thomas Antony is a social development professional with expertise in policy solutions to some of the most pressing issues of the time such as school education, urban livelihoods, and governance. Thomas is presently working with National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA) as a CEO leading the National Independent Schools Alliance. He is playing a crucial role in developing, strengthening, and scaling up the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), the national federation of associations of low-cost private schools. He also worked with NCPCR- National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in the Right to Education Division from 2011 to 2013. During this period, he was monitoring the implementation of the Right to Education Act 2009 in 60 Government schools in East Delhi. He contributed to developing the Social Audit Tools for RTE Act 2009 monitoring through School Management Committees and Civil Society. Thomas Antony has vast work experience with organizations like Center for Civil Society, JOSH- Joint Operation for Social Help, Aajeevika Bureau, Kotra Adivasi Sangathan, Mazdoor Kisan Sakthi Sangathan, Right to Information Movement, Evidence- Human Rights Organization. Thomas Antony is a graduate in Sociology and a postgraduate in Social Work. He is also an Advocacy Fellow of the National Centre for Advocacy Studies, Pune Maharastra, completing the 18 Months advocacy strategy course and working with National Level Social Movements such as Mazdoor Kisan Sakti Sangatan, NCPRI National Campaign for People's Right to Information, National Right to Education Forum, Center for Civil Society, JOSH- Joint Operation for Social Help, Aajeevika Bureau, Kotra Adivasi Sangathan, Evidence- Human Rights Organization. He has also attended 14 days workshop on Education in Crisis – Global Perspective and solutions by the International Academy of Leadership, Germany. He has been a participant in the ‘International Youth Exchange Program’ between India and Bangladesh in the year 2012.

Ravi Shankar Sharma

Program Manager

Ravi Shankar Sharma

Program Manager

Ravi Shankar Sharma is a graduate in Psychology & Geography, Master of Science in Information Technology (MSc.IT), and Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.). He has done an Advance Diploma in Computer Application from ‘Hardicon’ Science & Technology, Government of India, New Delhi and a Diploma in Computer Hardware and Networking. With more than 15 years of experience in training and teaching, he has worked with schools, government ITIs, NSDC, and CSR training projects related to a variety of organizations, and methodologies to design, develop, and deliver successful training programs, and integrate instructional technology to deliver onsite and virtual training.

Anil Kumar Maurya

Program Associate

Anil Kumar Maurya

Program Associate

Anil Kumar Maurya holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from the Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology, and Sciences (SHUATS), Allahabad, UP. Previously, he completed a Bachelor of Science degree at Purvanchal University, Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, he holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Application (PGDCA) and a Diploma in Finance Accounting. In 2014, he served as an urban poverty advocate for the Ford Foundation in Agra. In 2016 and 2017, he also worked with ARMAAN on the MMITRA project on pregnant and lactating women, monitoring implementation and coordination at the Delhi government hospitals and community centers in Delhi and Varanasi.In 2018, he also worked on HIV/AIDS with the SPID SOCIETY in Delhi and Agra.

Aman Kumar

Senior Associate - Communication

Aman Kumar

Senior Associate - Communication

Aman Kumar is pursuing his graduation in BCA from IGNOU. He has worked as a graphic designer for Saffron Tech Private Limited in 2019. Additionally, he is a freelancer with multiple Indian brands for social media marketing, graphic designing and video editing. He enjoys practicing meditation in his spare time. He adores Jaun Elia, Bashir Badr and many such poets. Aman’s enthusiasm for cricket is evident from the commentary he had provided for Rooter during two IPL matches.

Mohit Kumar

Accountant

Mohit Kumar

Accountant

Mohit Kumar is pursuing Master of Commerce from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and graduated in Bachelor of Commerce from Delhi University. He has worked with J Harlalka & Associates (CA Firm) as an Accountant. He has been working with NISA since February 2023 on Accountant. He is General Insurance Agent at TATA AIG. Mohit like Stock market data analysis in free time and is a fan of Chess Playing.

Nitu Bisht

Program Associate

Nitu Bisht

Program Associate

Nitu Bisht has pursued her graduation in B.A. Programme from IGNOU and holds a diploma in Electronics and Communications Engineering. She has worked with HCL as a Front-End Engineer and Digital School Of Delhi as a Student Coordinator. She has been working with NISA since 2019 on various school development programs and initiatives. Currently, she is pursuing her Masters in Adult Education from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Nitu enjoys watching K-dramas and is a fan of BTS aside from everything else.

Arpitha

Associate - School Development Programs

Arpitha

Associate - School Development Programs

Currently pursuing her MBA, Arpitha Karan holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (M.Sc) from Acharya Nagarjuna University. Previously, she worked for Steeple and Hudson pest control Ltd for a period of 3 years and for the SBI's Back-end Banking Process at SERCO for 14 months. Additionally, she worked as a team leader for Kotak Process in Corp One for 18 months. In her spare time, she enjoys watching TV and listening to music.

Vivek Kumar

Office Assistant

Vivek Kumar

Office Assistant

Vivek Kumar has pursued his graduation in B.A. Programme from the University of Delhi. He has been involved with NISA for about 4 years now and has volunteered throughout that span.

Jaspal Rawat

Office Assistant

Jaspal Rawat

Office Assistant

Jaspal Rawat has an intermediate -level education.

Core Committee Advisor

Mr. A Krishna Reddy, APUSMA

Advisor to President for Advocacy

Mr. A Krishna Reddy, APUSMA

Advisor to President for Advocacy

details coming soon.

Mr Shashi Kumar, KAMS

Advisor to President for Legal

Mr Shashi Kumar, KAMS

Advisor to President for Legal

details coming soon.

Mr Anirudh Gupta, AHRAS & CRISP

Advisor to President for Quality

Mr Anirudh Gupta, AHRAS & CRISP

Advisor to President for Quality

details coming soon.

Mr Bharat Malik, PUSMA

Advisor to President for Media

Mr Bharat Malik, PUSMA

Advisor to President for Media

details coming soon.

Mr Suba Singh, PSMAU

Advisor to President for Fundraising

Mr Suba Singh, PSMAU

Advisor to President for Fundraising

details coming soon.

Dr. Prasad Rao Enuganti

Advisor, Quality

Dr. Prasad Rao Enuganti

Advisor, Quality

details coming soon.

Dr. Kuldeep Kaur Anand

National Quality Advisor

Dr. Kuldeep Kaur Anand

National Quality Advisor

details coming soon.

Mr Rajender Singh

National Advisor, Advocacy and Quality

Mr Rajender Singh

National Advisor, Advocacy and Quality

details coming soon.

Dr. Amit Chandra

Advisor to President

Dr. Amit Chandra

Advisor to President

Dr. Amit Chandra is a social development professional with expertise in policy solutions to some of the most pressing issues of the time such as school education, urban livelihoods, and governance. Amit currently works with the Central Square Foundation as a Senior Consultant. Previously, he has worked with the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Civil Society (CCS) as ‘Associate Director’ leading the policy advisory vertical of the organization. He has played a crucial role in developing, strengthening, and scaling up the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA), the national federation of associations of low-cost private schools, as ‘National Coordinator’. In his last full-time engagement, Amit was based in Kabul working with The Asia Foundation (TAF) providing knowledge and technical support to the Ministry of Education, Afghanistan. His work and views have been widely quoted in media and academic publications.