Meet Our Team

A post graduate in Computer Science, Bharti was the co-founder of tech-based startups in market research and e-learning, before being the architect of Prakriti, both in form and spirit. She has led the growth of Prakriti into a school, a community learning centre and an inclusive learning space for children with special needs. Bharti is a Vipassna meditator and inspires children on mindfulness and having loving kindness towards all beings of nature.

Shilpa spent 10 years working in the World Bank and the banking sector in India and Singapore. After the corporate stint, she returned to what she used to enjoy as a child- to demystify complex issues and teach. A young parent herself, she joined Bharti in building Prakriti, as a learner-centred school, taking inspiration from Mirambika, where she spent her years in training. Even as she was the most accomplished student at both her school, Sardar Patel Vidyalaya and alma mater in DU, she believes in changing the yardstick of how we measure performance of learner to a more holistic and integral way. These days, Shilpa is re-learning Kathak and is looking forward to her performances.

Mridul Batra has been in the Education sector for the last 10 years, before a professional stint in the Banking sector. He was transforming the Primary years program and taught Economics at High School at Bharti Public School, Delhi. In addition to his responsibilities at Prakriti, Mridul is also overseeing a leadership development program for Principals of about 100 Delhi Govt. Schools in the East of Delhi for the past 2 years and now for South District in 2020. Mridul earned a B.A. in Economics (DU), an M.S. in Economics from the National University of Singapore, and an Ed.M. from Harvard. Other than learning in schools, Mridul is passionate about photography & design (he studied Photography Design at the National Institute of Design, (Ahmedabad)). He is an alumnus of Delhi’s Sardar Patel Vidyalaya.

Vinita has a Bachelor and a Master’s degree in Elementary Education from Delhi University and Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai respectively. Passionate about children’s literature and the world it opens forth for young minds, she has more than a decade of experience in the field of early literacy, curriculum development, teacher training and engaging with young learners. Her work engagements varied from being a teacher in The Heritage School, Gurgaon and Aman Setu, Pune, to working on curriculum and teacher development at Nirantar, NCERT and TheTeacherApp.

Rahul has worked with the Nobel Peace Laureate Prof Muhd Yunus on making Indian companies pursue conscious capitalism through social innovation. He has run two startups in clean energy and healthtech space and has worked in global M&A and and corporate finance. Rahul is an MBA from INSEAD and is pursuing his Masters in Education. Rahul is passionate about learner-centered education and leads institution-building, innovation and growth at Prakriti. He enjoys playing squash, skiing and loves to read on pedagogy and spirituality.

Sh H C Batra is mentoring the Prakriti team on developing the school campuses to be as child-friendly as possible. With his four decades of experience as an Economics teacher and as the Founder and Chairperson of Bharti Public School, he has significant experience in developing education models that are relevant and high performance cultures in academic organisations. 

Venerable Ajahn Jayasaro was born in England and is a prominent figure in the movement to integrate Buddhist developmental mprinciples into the Thai education system. His countless contributions include writing the book ‘Stillness Flowing’ which is a definitive biography of Ajahn Chah.

Meenakshi Puri is the English facilitator for middle school. Prior to this, she has had a long teaching career spanning more than 3 decades, the longest one at Sardar Patel Vidyalaya. She was also a monastic in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 2 years, and lived in a nunnery. She enjoys reading books and poems with children, of slavery and injustice, of protest and resistance, of little big people, of choices that impact the world, of beauty and wonder, of courge and vulnerability, of hope and fear, and of failure too. She holds a Master’s Degree in English from Lady Sri Ram College, D.U. and a B.Ed from Annamalai University. She has completed a Diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building, from Lady Sri Ram College, D.U. Yes, LSR again and is currently doing a 4 year Nalanda Masters Programme in Buddhist Philosophy and Logic from Tibet House, New Delhi.

Faheem is the Programme Lead and facilitator in Hindi language. He is an experienced and passionate theatre artist with ample exposure to theater plays. He has completed his B.Ed and MA Hindi from Jamia Milia Islamia and prior to this has taught at a progressive school in Delhi. In addition, he is working as co-director in the “Curtain-Call” theater group. As part of his theatre experience, he has performed in a hundred street plays and fifty stage performances as actor, production manager, writer and director. Also, he has been part of “Pratibha Unnayan Natya Manch” and JOSH- The Drama Club.

Ishita has completed Bachelor of Elementary Education from Jesus & Mary College, University of Delhi. At Prakriti, she is using her deep interest in language learning to develop English language skills in senior primary learners, through innovative pedagogy methods.

Divya Ajwani teaches Natural Sciences in the Middle School. She earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Home Economics from the M.S. University of Vadodara. She is a recipient of National Scholarship Award by the President of India. She has qualified for UGC NET eligibility for Lectureship. Her working career graph has a diverse set of working experiences in the domain of teaching at the undergraduate, postgraduate as well as school levels and she has also worked as a creative arts teacher and an evening activity center administrator. She sums up her first year at Prakriti as a year marked with unlearning and relearning. She is also a member of Prakriti’s parent community. Didi loves to immerse herself in gardening and spiritual reading.