Union Budget Expectation: Classifying Education & related services under the "Priority sector lending" category

Rustom Kerawalla

CHAIRMAN – AMPERSAND GROUP

Rustom Kerawallais a renowned educationist, an edu-tech entrepreneur and a veteran expert in global and Indian education policy landscape. He has over three decades of experience in working with diverse policymakers and government institutions in the areas of early childcare learning, K12 education, skill development and continuous professional development for creating vast knowledge resources in developing nations across the globe – from India to Africa and beyond.

Mr. Kerawalla is driven by his passion to ensure that highquality education is within the reach and means of each of the 300 million children in India. Through establishment of a modern educational ecosystem, his dream has been to shape young minds into progressive, skilled, thoughtful and accomplished citizens ofa new India

His vision to create an advanced and hi-tech school educationalinfrastructure led to the foundation of the Ampersand Group in 2004.Under his leadership over the years, the Group has now turned into a multi-faceted, end-to-end solution provider for the educational sector. The strength of the Ampersand Group lies in its ability to standardize quality product delivery across all aspects of school education ---curriculum development, teacher and staff training, school management,student assessment and auditing services. Mr. Kerawallahas been personally involved in guiding the development of this unique curriculum that would add even more value to the students’ learnings.

With this greater goal of enabling India to create its future knowledge resource by reaping the benefit of its current demographic dividend, Mr. Kerawalla has established one of the most renowned and strongest network of 40 schools, which are spread across urban India– the VIBGYOR Group of Schools

Mr. Kerawalla is also a strong proponent of developing relevant policies and curriculum which leverage advancements in Information Technology (IT) and modern digital platforms for transforming India from a mere literate nation to a country with a vast knowledgeresource base and skilled talent pool, across socio-economic demographics. It is because of his vision that the Ampersand Group also strongly relies on digital tools and technology platforms to democratise education and skill development,bringing it within reach of all,through government and private sector education institutions.

Due to this reason and his proven expertise, Mr. Kerawalla is often invited to work closely with the public sector for transforming early childcare centres and schools operated by the government and municipal bodies and other similar projects.

In the past one year, the non-profit trusts guided by Rustom Kerawalla Foundation have enabled transformation of hundreds of Municipal Corporation operated balwadis and Anganwadis across Maharashtra and few other states, whileestablishing them into modern institutions of learning and education.

Like many others, Mr. Kerawalla believes that the future of India will necessitate the entire education system transitioning from the current focus of pass percentage to a brand-new framework, which would instead stress on researched learning outcomes and holistic knowledge acquisition of the child, through transparent online systems. 

His business leadership and exemplary vision has been recognised with numerous prestigious awards and accolades, including:

·         Extraordinaire Award by Brand Vision

·         India’s Most Admired Business Leader Award by White Page International

·         Edupreneur Award by World Education Summit 2017

·         Award for Outstanding Contribution to Education by World HRD Congress

·         Innovative Education Award by DNA

·         ET Best Education Brands 2018 by Economic Times