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Contributor : Profile

Name Surname

Rukmini Banerji

Pratham
rukmini.banerji@pratham.org

Dr. Rukmini Banerji is the CEO of Pratham Education Foundation. Trained as an economist, Dr. Banerji completed her B.A. at St. Stephen’s College and attended the Delhi School of Economics (DSE). She was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Banerji worked as a programme 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. There, she led the organisation’s research and assessment efforts, which have included the internationally acknowledged Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) since 2005, and served as director of the ASER Centre in New Delhi for 10 years.

In 2008, she 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 ASER Centre in various national and international forums and is a member of committees both in India and abroad. She writes frequently on education in India and enjoys creating books and stories for children.

Originally from Bihar, she now lives in New Delhi.

Posts by Rukmini Banerji

Choice and cost: The role of household decision making and spending on secondary education in rural Bihar

This project attempts to understand the educational choices that households make and expenditures they undertake for children going from upper primary school to secondary school in Bihar. It is design...

  • IGC Research on India

Improving children's learning: Challenges and priorities for the new government

Over the last 15 years, continued effort to universalise access to elementary education in India has resulted in high enrolment rates in schools. Now that most children are in school, policy and plan...

  • Notes from the Field

Searching for the 'silver bullet': What works in improving children's learning outcomes?

Children’s learning outcomes in primary schools in India are far from satisfactory. In this article, Rukmini Banerji explores the various theories of change and associated implementation strategies...

  • Notes from the Field

The invisible and urgent challenge of learning

While almost all six to fourteen year olds in India are enrolled in school, their performance is far below expected levels. The common view is that the problem can be addressed by filling gaps in the...

  • Articles

Why Indian education needs to get back to reality

What is the best advice to give an Indian education department official? This column argues that the best thing officials can do is drop the assumptions and stick to reality – otherwise many childre...

  • Articles