Dinner Conversation with Rukmini Banerji

Rukmini Banerji

Rukmini Banerji is CEO of Prathan Education Foundation, an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India.  As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system. Established in 1995 to provide education to children in the slums of Mumbai, Pratham has grown both in scope and geographical coverage.
 
Banerji worked as a program officer at the Spencer Foundation in Chicago for several years before returning to India in 1996 to join Pratham as part of the leadership team.  She led the Pratham research and assessment efforts, which has included the internationally acknowledged Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) since 2005, and served as director of the ASER Centre in New Delhi for ten years.  Banerji became CEO in 2016.
 
In 2008, Banerji was the inaugural recipient of the Maulana Abul Kalam Shiksha Puraskar Award conferred by the Government of Bihar, India. Over the years, she has represented Pratham and the ASER Centre in various national and international forums and is a member of committees both in India and abroad.  Banerji writes frequently on education in India and enjoys creating books and stories for children. 
 
Banerji completed her BA at St. Stephen’s College and attended the Delhi School of Economics. She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and earned her PhD from the University of Chicago.