Rukmini Banerji, Ph.D.
Pratham – Delhi Initiatives & North India
Primarily focused on urban centers, Pratham is a large-scale initiative in which citizens partner with the government in India for the universalization of primary education. Currently Pratham reaches over 150,000 children on a daily basis in its projects. After studying at Delhi University (St. Stephen’s College and Delhi School of Economics) Rukmini was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. She studied at the University of Chicago, worked on Children’s labor force participation and school attendance in rural India and completed her Ph.D. under economist Bob Willis. She completed two years at the Population Research Center of the University of Chicago researching issues in education, fertility and labor markets in South East Asia. During this period, she taught in the Chicago Public Schools system. From 1993 to 1996 Rukmini was a Program Officer at the Chicago based Spencer Foundation.
Initially trained as an economist, Rukmini has increasingly become interested and involved in primary education. She now spends the majority of her time in designing, piloting and testing, implementing, researching and learning from large scale urban projects that are attempting to increase enrollment and improve learning in primary schools.
