Our Team
Barefoot Edu Foundation is a grassroots organisation founded by a Young India Fellow, Teach for India Fellow and Harvard Graduate who trust in the potential of people. We believe that if we do not rapidly improve education, the largest youth population in the world may grow up to be the largest unemployable population in the world.
A country as big and populous as India requires a lot of leaders at the grassroots that are empowered to meaningfully contribute to education right now. Meet the masterminds behind our organization - our visionary co-founders whose ambition knows no bounds.
Saumya Aggarwal
Director, Design and Impact
The queen of manifestations
Saumya is on a mission to design transformative education programs. Her experience spans across designing school transformation interventions for schools and school clusters to district-wide systems. Her design embodies the name Barefoot- taking bold steps while being sensitive to the ground that one treads on. As a woman entrepreneur, she strongly believes in unleashing the potential of women in leadership positions and is passionate about mentoring budding women-preneurs.
Subhankar Paul
Director, Operations
The king of persuasion
Subhankar is on a mission to bring together communities through the power of the collective and transform education and the communities as a whole. His experience at Teach For India as a fellow and then as an Assistant School Leader led him to work with children, teachers, school leaders, and parents in low-income communities. Post that, as a social entrepreneur, he designed and implemented school transformation programs and 21st-century skills through sports programs for students from economically and socially under-resourced families. He has also served as a consultant to the International Olympics Committee’s Young Leaders Program, designing and implementing a sports-based mentorship and career guidance program for young adults. Additionally, Subhankar is part of a pan India School Assessor Network which examines schools and consults for rapid improvement of the school.
Jonathan Mendonca
Director, Scale and Strategy
The storytelling wizard
Civil Engineer turned educator, Jonathan trusts in the potential of people to build the foundation for social change and is on a mission to decentralize education by empowering leaders at the grassroots so that the voice, values, and goals of their communities shape education. Jonathan holds a Masters in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has been awarded the New World Social Innovation Fellowship from the Harvard Kennedy School. He has also been a Saul Zaentz Fellow, Young India Fellow, and Mother Teresa Fellow, and he was invited to share his experience at the United Nation's ECOSOC '19 Youth Forum.
The Femme-tastic Leadership Squad
Aditi Bhargava
A ray of sunshine
Sangita Bissa
A perpetual student
Pallavi Kejriwal
A dreamer with a plan
Arunima Sengupta
A person of their word
The Femme-tastic Program Squad
Arzoo Aziz Kamdar
Calm in our storm
Ishani Chanchani
A heart of gold
Simran isani
A live wire
Sana Shaikh
Boots on the ground
Shefali Kanyal
Still waters run deep
Awards
Great Place to Work
Guidestar
