We must become the change
we want to see.
Kasturba Gandhi
We envision India with an interconnected community of KGBV schools that provide high quality education for a better future of underrepresented adolescent Girls.
Our Vision
To increase decision making and foundational skills in underrepresented adolescent Girls by enabling a supportive ecosystem of teachers, school officials and parents.
Our Mission











Story of SwaTaleem
Expressed as a combination of two words, ‘Swa’ meaning‘Self’ and ‘Taleem’ meaning ‘Education’, SwaTaleem represents ‘Self-Education’ or ‘Owning one’s Education’. We believe that ‘Self’ is not limited to ‘I’; instead it is our endeavor that we take all companions associated with education along with us. With the expansion of the ambit of ‘Self’, we will be able to fulfill the purpose of education in the truest sense.
While laying the foundation of the organization, we took the help of the children of Prayas (meaning efforts in Hindi) to conceive its logo. Prayas is a volunteer based after-school program at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India for the children of underrepresented families, in and around the campus. This is where both the co-founders volunteered and forayed into the space of service. Out of the drawn logos in raw form, we selected one which was further worked upon by our old student of Prayas, Manisha. It was then finalized by our fellows from the Ashoka University, with Mahima taking the lead.
This logo conveys that when different partners associated with education (teachers, children, community, administrative officials and others), represented by different colors, work together towards education, then we achieve the transformational flight of freedom.
Our Values
Excellence with Humility
We are not where we need to be yet, so we will work harder with excellence and humility.
One of our key beliefs is to give our best in whatever we do and keep our head over our shoulders. We believe that we don’t have a universal solution to the challenges present in the educational ecosystem and acknowledge the strengths and challenges that the diverse context of our society encompasses.
Collaborative Mutual Transformation
I am not to emancipate anyone or make anything/anyone’s life better. I will walk hand in hand and witness while ‘we’ transform ourselves in the process.
We do not see ourselves as problem solvers for the people out there, instead we strongly believe in building partnerships and growing together in the ecosystems we work in. It’s a partnership of equals, without compromising on the ethos of the organization. The power of acknowledging people’s strength and working with them rather than ‘on them’ leads to a partnership that helps in mutual transformation.
Constitutional Value Based Education
Education is a transformative tool to live a life of dignity. Our preamble summates the vision for Education.
Education is not a reproductive tool limited to literacy. Instead education is a transformative tool to help us live our lives with dignity. The pillars of education are defined as Freedom, Equality, Justice and Fraternity (स्वतंत्रता, समता, न्याय एवं बंधुता)
Our Team
Abhishek Kumar
Government Liasoning and Expansion Lead
Ananya Tiwari
Co-Founder
Ashly Gopalakrishnan
Fundraising and Communications Lead
Farheen Anwar
Cluster Lead
Hadisha Tyagi
Cluster _Lead -Hisar& Bhiwani
Kanishk Bhargava
Research and Readiness Lead, English
Komal Kumari
Cluster Lead,Sirsa
Manisha
Cluster_Lead Jind and Kaithal
Manisha Devi
Field coordinator
Monika Mahto
Director, SwaTaleem Foundation, India
Naaz Parveen
Cluster Lead of Fatehabad
Ratnakar
Director, SwaTaleem Foundation, India
Rizwana
Field Coordinator
Rubeen Chaudary
Parental Engagement and Volunteer Management Lead
Shehla Parveen
Monitoring Evaluation Lead (MEL Lead)
Sreeja Basu
Research and Readiness Lead, Socioemotional Skills
Sushila Devi
Field Coordinator
Tamanna
Associate cluster lead, Kaithal
Vaibhav Kumar
Co-Founder
Our Mentors

Dr. Anju Malhotra

Mr. Babu Joseph

Mr. Mehmood Khan

Mr. Ravi Gulati

Mr. Ujwal Thakar

Ms Nivedita Bedadur

Ms Tejas Merh Desai

Ms. Daya Kori

Ms. Ramya Rajagopalan
