Madhav Chavan (born 1954) is a social activist and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of the educational non-profit,

Pratham Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. It was co-founded by Madhav Chavan anFarida Lambay. It works towards the provision of quality education to the underprivileged children in India. Established in Mumbai in ...

. He also started the Read India campaign, which aims to teach basic reading, writing and arithmetic to underprivileged children across India. Pratham has been recognized by th
Kravis Prize
and th
Skoll Award
for its innovativeness and leadership as a social entrepreneurial organization in the area of education. Chavan was the 2012 recipient of the WISE Prize for Education, which is widely considered the equivalent of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

in the field of education and recipient of Leading-Social-Contributor-Award which is the highest degree award in India for exemplary work in the area of operation. He was also the 2011 recipient of the

Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship The Skoll Foundation is a private foundation based in Palo Alto, California. The foundation makes grants and investments intended to reduce global poverty. Jeffrey Skoll created the foundation in 1999. The total assets of the foundation (includi ...

Early life

Madhav Chavan was born in

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

to Yashwant Chavan, the founder of the Lenin-inspired Lal Nishan Party. He went to B.P.M High School in Khar and

Jai Hind College Jai Hind College (Marathi: जय हिंद कॉलेज) is an autonomous college in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, affiliated to the University of Mumbai. It was established in 1948. In 2000, ''India Today'' named Jai Hind College as one ...

. He received his B Sc and M Sc degrees in Chemistry from the Institute of Science in Mumbai. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the Ohio State University in 1983.

Career

Madhav Chavan taught Chemistry at the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

and the

Institute of Chemical Technology Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) is a state-funded deemed university in Mumbai, India. The institute also has campuses at Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Jalna, Marathwada. It is focused on training and research in the fields of chemical engin ...

, Mumbai before getting involved with adult literacy in the

National Literacy Mission National Education Mission (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) was launched in 2018. It was allocated a budget of in 2019 Interim Union Budget of India. Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school ...

in the slums of Mumbai in 1989. He returned to India in 1983. After producing literacy programmes for

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

for a few years, he was invited to work with a

Unicef UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

project to teach in Mumbai’s slums. He was a member of

National Advisory Council The National Advisory Council (NAC) of India was a unconstitutional body set up by the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to advise the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh. Sonia Gandhi served as its chairperson for much of th ...

from 2004 to 2008. He is also a member of the Governing Council of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Mission (SSA) of the Government of India and has been a member of four half-yearly Joint Review Missions of SSA.

References

Empowering India through education

External links

*
www.prathaminstitute.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chavan, Madhav Social workers from Maharashtra Social workers Living people 1954 births Members of National Advisory Council, India Delhi University faculty Ohio State University alumni Asia Game Changer Award winners Jai Hind College alumni