Dr. Kalpana Sankar is founder of Mahatma Gandhi Educational Trust. She holds a double doctorate – in Nuclear Sciences and in Women’s Studies and Self-Help Groups. Passionate about the cause of child labour elimination, she co-founded Hand in Hand India in 2004. Dr. Sankar has immense field experience at national and global levels including handling several missions at South Africa, Afghanistan and Brazil. She holds an Executive MBA from TRIUM, where she was the first recipient of a scholarship to pursue the programme. Dr. Sankar is the recipient of the Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim AI- Khalifa Global Award for Women Empowerment under the Individuals Champions category. The award was given in partnership with the Kingdom of Bahrain and UN Women in New York in 2019. She has also received the Government of India’s Nari Shakti Puraskar-2016 for her contribution to the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized women. Under her leadership, Hand in Hand India won the Pradhan Mantri Bal Kalyan Puraskar for its dedicated work towards child welfare and education.
As Founder and Adviser, she currently provides strategic guidance to the school management to ensure the schools reach greater heights.