Girish is the COO and Director-Scale Programmes with Peepul, a non-profit organisation in India, working on improving educational outcomes of students in public schools. The public school system in India is fee-free, and generally serves the most disadvantaged segments of society. However, the gaps in learning levels are particularly acute in these schools. Peepul aims to change the narrative, and help government systems deliver quality education in these schools for the poorest and most marginalised populations. The organisation’s unique approach, focused on improving student-teacher engagement as a means to improve learning, convinced Girish to join them full-time in 2019 as part of the leadership team, after collaborating with them as a strategy consultant.
Girish attended the One Young World Summit in London, 2019. At the time, he was slated to join Peepul for a year on a secondment. The Summit instilled a sense of urgency in him to go and create systemic change. He joined Peepul ten days later, but also published a manifesto at his previous company, with other One Young World Ambassadors, to encourage corporate social impact. Through One Young World, Girish has spoken at multiple events, including with Chartered Accountants Worldwide, and was nominated by One Young World for a Goalkeepers’ Changemaker Award.
Peepul is currently working with governments across two geographies in India, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. The organisation also runs three exemplar government schools in the capital with the local Municipal Corporation, as a demonstration of excellence in the public school system. These schools work with 1,500 students. Peepul has also directly impacted over 300,000 teachers in Madhya Pradesh and 17,628 in Delhi through pedagogical training and interventions, indirectly impacting the educational outcomes of 10 million students. Peepul works extensively with school administrators and principals to ensure systemic change at all levels of the government school system, with an emphasis on improving grade-level competencies and foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
“One Young World has opened so many doors for me. Everything from hosting me in one of my first ever webinars, inviting me to their FinBiz event as a speaker and even nominating me for a Goalkeepers’ Changemaker Award, that took me to New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.”
