- By JVG Krishna Murthy
- 0 Comments
- July 3, 2025
We thank all those participants who registered and those who attended, and the dozens of questions that were asked for a very rich dialog during the Webinar.
Some of the feedback received from the audience:
“Looks like you are doing great for education!” – Som Karamchetty
“Vandanaji, What a wonderful project for girls education in underserved population in India.” – Dr Bikram Paul
With 3.3m NGOs registered in the country, even if 10% are active, that multiplier effect by all NGOs replicating successful innovations in their territories is the best way to shorten the time. Hence, we are looking forward to all mission-aligned entities and professionals to come join our journey. Together we can get there faster.
Please find the links to relevant material from the Webinar:
1. Slide deck used for introducing WGF Programs.
2. Slide deck used for introducing the panelists and their work.
3. Questions & Answers from the session.
♦ Call to Action: Visit ‘Get Involved’ page to join us and learn about our solutions.
♦ Watch out for our next webinars which will bring similar group of innovators in Health, Livelihood, and Water.
♦ For questions, please write to info@wheelsglobal.org
Click to view the webinar recording
LIVE Webinar – 26th July 2025
At-Scale Innovations in School Education
Saturday ~ July 26, 2025
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 7:30 pm IST
(Registration is Free)
Webinar Panelists
Mr. Ranjit Singh Deol ~ IAS, Principal Secretary, School Education, Govt of Maharashtra
Ms. Gauri Kumar ~ CEO/Founder, Scholar Planet Solution
Mr. Vivek Piddempally ~ Co-Founder and Director, InquiLab Foundation
Ms. Vandana Pamecha ~ CEO, EduGirls
Mr. Shanti Lal Mutha ~ CEO/Founder, Mulyavardhan
Webinar Chair
Arti Tandon ~ Director, Outreach Programs, WHEELS Global Foundation
Webinar Moderator
Mr. Ratan Agarwal ~ President WHEELS Global Foundation
Webinar Summary
Affordable, accessible, and quality education is one of the most fundamental rights and an absolute necessity for any country’s transformation and growth. That need becomes an extraordinary challenge when serving over 800m residents in rural India, often with highly limited resources and difficult access. Add to that the accelerating pace of digitization across economic segments and globalization, and the scale and urgency of the challenge become clear. Meeting India’s vision of becoming a developed economy by 2047 will require bold, innovative and scalable solutions- especially in education.
This webinar will spotlight some of the most original thought-leadership and groundbreaking innovations from WHEELS’ vast ecosystem of social impact partners working across all corners of India in the education domain. These innovative solutions bring the power of technology and business models coupled with original thinking, asking different questions and coming up with novel ways to solve the tough challenges faced by underserved communities.
You will hear about the latest innovations such as crowd-sourcing and AI, mobile platforms with natural interactivity, innovative integration of values in the core curriculum, programs that nurture orphaned girls into state & national leaders, initiatives fostering innovation and problem-solving at an early age in remote/rural schools, and the critical role of government and policy in scaling impact.
By the end of the webinar, we hope you will share WHEELS’ confidence in our collective ability to apply the full power of the IIT ecosystem to tackle some of India’s most pressing challenges – and to do so with purpose, creativity, and measurable impact.
Join US LIVE on ZOOM
Saturday ~ July 26, 2025
10 am EST, 7:00 am PST, 7:30 pm IST
(Registration is Free)
You can join the webinar 15 min early (i.e. 09:45 AM EST OR 7:15 PM IST) to watch the slide show on WGF-related projects & videos.
WHEELS Global Foundation is an initiative of global IIT Alumni community and joined by hundreds of mission-aligned professionals such as doctors & lawyers, with the mission of Technology-Enabled Philanthropy at-scale. WHEELS has also been selected by NITI Aayog, Govt. of India as a member of the Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer. WHEELS has also signed an MOU with the Ministry for Panchayati Raj for a technology partnership in Rural Development.
Panelists Overview
Ranjit Singh Deol, IAS is currently serving as the Principal Secretary in the School Education and Sports Department in State of Maharashtra, India. Mr Deol has previously served as the Principal Secretary of the Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection Department and Managing Director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC). He is an officer from the 1998 batch of the Maharashtra cadre. (Ranjit Singh Deol)
Gauri Kumar is a member of the Executive Council of WHEELS Global India. Previously, she led WHEELS Water Council since its inception. Member of the 1979 batch of Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Gauri ji has held numerous senior leadership roles in her distinguished public service career in Gujarat State as well as Government of India: Former Chairperson, Public Sector Enterprises Board, Govt. of India; Secretary to Government of India, in the Union Ministry of Labor & Employment; Principal Secretary, Urban Development in Gujarat State; Principal Secretary, Industries & Mines in Gujarat State; Industries Commissioner in Gujarat State; Secretary, Education Department in Gujarat State. The Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2009 was held under her stewardship. (Gauri Kumar | LinkedIn)
Vivek Piddempally, is the Co-Founder and Director at Inqui-lab. Inqui-lab aims to prepare every child for the 21st century by nurturing a culture of creativity and Innovation at schools. InquiLab believes the current education system is too focused on rote-learning & children are not being given enough avenues to submit original ideas & engage in meaningful creation. (Vivek Piddempally | LinkedIn)
Vandana Pamecha is the CEO of EduGirls, which has a mission to enable girls living in extreme poverty to achieve financial independence through customized quality education, vocational training and professional education. They start from age 3 and stay with the girls till they are in jobs applying the Ten Mantras model, which delivers real results at about $1/per day per girl. IIMHR University of Jaipur, as part of its ethnographic evaluation of the EduGilrl model at Vimukti Girls School, attributed the success to the empathy of the teachers, the heavy emphasis on quality of learning, development of all-round skills and active counseling, skill development and placement backed up by scholarships. (Vandana Pamecha)
Shanti Lal Mutha is a social entrepreneur and strategic philanthropist who has touched millions of lives through his work in water conservation, disaster relief and rehabilitation, and values education. His relentless pursuit of grassroots impact for four decades has firmly established him as a changemaker par excellence. He is the founder of two non-profit organizations—Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana and Shantilal Muttha Foundation. In 2013, driven by a deep commitment to alleviate the impact of drought on communities, he spearheaded a grassroots movement to rejuvenate water bodies. In the past decade, he has been able to significantly enhance the water storage capacities in drought-affected villages through community participation. By 2014, this decentralized approach helped to rejuvenate over 14,000 waterbodies, adding an impressive 10,600 Crore liters of additional water storage, helping more than 3,100 villages to fight recurring droughts. (Shanti Lal Muttha | Linkedin)
Arti Tandon is a product leader and strategist with over 20 years of experience translating cutting-edge innovations into impactful healthcare solutions. Her career spans top-tier academic institutions, global healthcare corporations, venture-backed startups, and the U.S. FDA, where she led cross-functional teams to develop and implement digital health, AI/ML, and precision medicine solutions that enhance patient outcomes and transform healthcare.
She specializes in product strategy & development, regulatory strategy, and cross-functional leadership, with a strong track record in digital health, SaMD AI/ML, and precision medicine. She excels in aligning product vision with clinical and business needs, driving market fit, and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards to deliver innovative, patient-centered solutions. (Arti Tandon | Linkedin)
Ratan Agarwal serves on the Wheels’ Board as President, bringing nearly three decades of rich experience in building and scaling multiple new start-ups and executive roles (in strategy, operations, marketing, and business development) at several Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Ratan is a co-founder and managing partner of CARBON Group Global, a global sustainability solutions-holding company, creating rapid replications (‘CARBON Copies”) of proven solutions with market-based models in Education & Learning, Women’s Empowerment, Resources (Food, Energy, Water), Health, and Economic Development.
Ratan received his MBA at Wharton School and Masters in Structural Engineering at IIT Bombay and lives in New Jersey (Ratan Agarwal | LinkedIn)
