Facilitators

Anahita Dhalla holds an ECCE Diploma (Early Childhood Care and Education) from ORT India and has been in this profession as an educator since the last five years. Currently, she is an educator at the Pre-Primary level in Shishuvan School, Mumbai. She considers the Display Boards to be an active tool for the teaching-learning process at all levels. She designed a display board on the theme of Transport in the first ECA – Early Childhood Association Conference which aimed at the sharing of the importance and use of displays in a class. Recently she was also invited to conduct a workshop on displays with the Adhyayan team at St. Dominic Savio.

Dipali Desai holds a B.ed degree from Pillai’s college (chembur) and Diploma in Montessori course from L.N.Mehta institute (Ghatkopar) and has been in this profession as an educator since the last twelve years. Currently she is an educator at the Primary level in Shishuvan School, Mumbai. She feels display board is an integral part of learning and makes it pleasurable and interactive. Recently she was invited to conduct a workshop on displays with the Adhyayan team at St. Dominic Savio.

She graduated with BSC Home science from Mumbai University. Pursued Early teacher training course and worked honorary with low socio-economic background children for two years. Joined Shishuvan as honorary and took up teaching pre-primary children. During the teaching pursued the course in special education from SIES College. She is currently working as a special educator in Shishuvan School with per-primary and primary department. She also manages students with special educational needs as a private remedial educator. Recently, she was invited to conduct a workshop for Tamarind Tree Pre-Primary teachers on how to observe children and gather evidence that helps make a judgement on their progress.

She graduated from SNDT University with a major in Human Development. During the course she interned in schools for spastics, hearing impaired and juvenile delinquents. She did Teachers training in the field of hearing impairment. She also taught to hearing impaired children for 2 years. After a stint in corporate world, came back to the field of education and started with pre –primary education. During the same time pursued a course from SIES College in working with Special Educational Needs students, mainly Learning Disability. Previous experience includes working with Rukhshana Sholapurwala, (an eminent special educator) as a remedial educator in her clinic. Currently associated with Shishuvan as a remedial educator and handle primary, middle and high school sections. Recently, she was invited to conduct a workshop for Tamarind Tree Pre-Primary teachers on how to observe children and gather evidence that helps make a judgement on their progress.

Meera Mawani currently works as a Training Consultant for the British Council (India). She undertakes teacher training programmes, classroom observations and cascade observations (teachers training teachers) to assess standards of teaching and learning along with giving developmental feedback, for secondary and primary state school teachers in various states of India. In addition, she undertakes needs analysis for various state-schools, formulates monitoring and evaluation instruments, collates M&E data and writes reports. Prior to that, Meera was Aim Higher Coordinator and Mentoring Coordinator at Ealing Hammersmith and West London College, where she coordinated, managed, monitored and evaluated the mentoring training for teaching staff and students(peer mentoring), across campuses. She has also worked at University of London (SOAS & Birkbeck College) as a Lecturer and a Network Development Coordinator.Meera has an MA in Leadership & Education Management from the Institute of Education- University of London (2010) and MSc. in History of Islamic Art from University of Edinburgh (1998). She has also completed a two year graduate programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (1997) from the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London.

Mary Ellen is passionate about education reform in India. Through her work as Executive Director at Atma she is able to affect change in education NGOs that work with over 18,000 young people in Mumbai. A NGO management expert Mary Ellen comes from a camping and youth leadership background with the YMCA. She is aways excited to roll up her sleeves and get involved and loves building networks with people with the same get it done attitude.

With 11 years of experience and a diploma in AMI Montessori Teacher Training, Nirmala Rao works at Aseema an NGO as the Head of Pre Primary. Nirmala is actively involved in setting up pre-primary at Igatpuri for tribal children and trains teachers in using various teaching methodologies and practices focusing on holistic growth of children. Nirmala has also help setup innovative activities for NIOS syllabus at the Igatpuri centre. Nirmala has won an Ed Leadership Award for Innovation In –Process Fellowships from CMS schools-Lucknow. She has participated in the School Leaders for India Programme organized by ARK, UK, in the Waldorf (Rudolf Steiner) Education Seminar-Khandala, Education Camp-cum-Workshop Sri Aurobindo Society-Puducherry, Madhyama Yoga Siksha-Mumbai and Montessori Refresher course – RTI. Nirmala enjoys playing the Tabla and is trained in light vocal.

Kyra Melwani is an enthusiastic educator who believes that all children can learn and thrive in a learning environment that is stimulating and appropriate for children’s abilities. Kyra has completed her Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education from Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai and Foundation Course in Learning Disability from Shikshaa Institute of Integrated education. Kyra has a rich experience in Pre Primary education and has worked in Godrej Udyanchal, Mumbai, Podar International School, Mumbai and International Cultural Youth Exchange, Switzerland. She is currently working at Shishuvan, Mumbai. Kyra pursues her hobby in oil and water painting and enjoys reading and music.

With a Master’s Degree in English from Calcutta University, Suchismita, started her career in education in 2008. Her interest in this career grew through her work experience and she completed her Bachelors in Education in 2013. Presently, Suchismita works at Shishuvan School in Mumbai. She likes reading and tries to share and impart the same love of books with the students.