A determined self-educated edupreneur with a diploma in electronics engineering awarded by the Chopra Radio and Electronics Institute, Mumbai, Indraman Sahadeo Singh, the founder and chairperson of the Pune-based Priyadarshani Group of schools and colleges, firmly believes in the philosophy of author Khalil Gibran who wrote: “The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple among his followers gives not of his wisdom, but rather of his faith and lovingness. He does not bid you to enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

Indraman Singh’s determination to provide the best possible education to every child is the outcome of severe poverty and deprivation he experienced as a child in rural Varanasi. Singh completed his primary school in his native village and worked as a household servant to finance his secondary education. Moreover, determined to improve his station in life by acquiring higher education qualifications, he self-funded his night school and technical education.

Driven by the nationalist impulse to spare children of succeeding generations the education deprivation he suffered in his childhood, soon after he completed his technical education, Singh started his first budget private school in Bhosari, Pune on August 15, 1982 with an enrollment of five children. Since then, the number of children in the Priyadarshani School, Bhosari has risen to 5,300 mentored by 170 teachers.

Over the past 38 years the number of Priyadarshani schools affiliated with the Maharashtra state exam board has risen to four (Indrayani Nagar, Pune, Moshi and Chakan) with an aggregate enrolment of 15,000 children mentored by 500 teachers. Tuition fees: Rs.22,000-30,000 per year. In the inaugural EducationWorld India Budget Private School Rankings 2020, Priyadarshani School, Indrayani Nagar is ranked #1 in Pune and #15 in Maharashtra (pop.115 million).

“I have always believed that national development is not possible without children from all segments of society receiving good quality education, including English language learning. Therefore, in our Priyadarshani schools we provide access to children from low-income households by keeping tuition fees affordable while providing them high-quality education to enable their physical, mental and spiritual growth and to enhance their self-respect and self-esteem,” says Indraman Singh.

For his sustained commitment to providing affordable education to children from all strata of society, the Editors and Board of Directors of EW are privileged to present Indraman Singh the EducationWorld Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2020.