A fish would envy her smartness, a peacock would brag about her prettiness, a giraffe would say, “she is definitely short,” a donkey would appreciate her spirit of hard work, and determination, a swan would treat her equal in terms of compassion, however, the tiger would mirror her willpower, boldness and courage.
Lakshmi Shivarama is a farsighted woman with a clear vision. Her grit and determination is commendable. After completing her 12th in India, she pursued her Bachelors in Finance from Rutgers University, USA, and Masters in Accounts and Finance from Manchester Business School, UK, in the year 2010 and 2012 respectively.
Apart from being an investment banker, during her volunteering work of teaching children on weekends, she identified an opportunity to create learning experiences for students to be shapers of knowledge rather than being a mere downloader of information from teachers. She took a step ahead in the new direction to apply design thinking and backwards design to build a teaching framework in her family-run Prarthana School, Bangalore, India, comprising 8000 students, 350 teachers and 16,000 parents. Along with her husband, she spearheads the team as Academic Advisor.
Always curious to learn, she is pursuing her Masters in Mathematics for Teaching at Harvard University. From pursuing yoga and meditation to submission of assignments, along with nurturing her 1.5 year old son, she pours her heart out to every aspect of her life. She believes in living a simple life, yet one full of dreams.
Her learning has crafted her vision of, “Preparing a student to be a lifelong learner in a pursuit to find the beauty of life while transferring the knowledge to conquer unexpected challenges thrown by life.”
One of her friend believes –
Lakshmi’s tenacity and integrity will play a big role in shaping India’s education system.
