Dr. Madhav Chavan is the Co-Founder of Pratham Education Foundation. After obtaining a PhD in chemistry from Ohio State University and working as a visiting faculty member at the University of Houston, he returned to India in 1986 to research and teach chemistry. However, he soon started working in the slums of Mumbai as part of the National Literacy Mission.
In 1995, Madhav co-founded Pratham to address the challenges of universal primary education in Mumbai. Since then, he has led the development of the organisation, pioneering large-scale innovations to tackle literacy challenges among India’s underserved children. He combines his scientific training with his creativity—having written songs about human rights and anchored television shows—to continually seek innovative ways of educating India’s under-resourced children.
Madhav stepped down as CEO of Pratham Education Foundation in 2015 but continues to be on its Board and actively leads the new experimentation in use of technology for education.
