Dev Aditya is an award-winning social innovator and educationist with an incredibly strong passion to eliminate the global skills and employability gap. He has conducted immersive research across India, Nepal and Bangladesh and created a curriculum and teaching system to upskill learners through transferable skills training and to improve their employability.
Recently he was declared a 30 under 30 social entrepreneur for India and an Under 30 Global Innovator by United Kingdom Research & Innovation (Innovate UK). He was also awarded by the Prime Minister of the UK in January 2021 for his education and upskilling work through Otermans Institute and his bestseller book Together: An anthology from the COVID-19 pandemic which is donating all of its proceeds to support NHS charities and frontline services.
I asked Dev some questions about joining the charity.
First off, it’s great to have you on board! Can you start by telling us a little bit about why education is important to you?
I think education and skills training should not be a privilege but a right. My life's work is to remove the global education, skills and employability gap.
We couldn’t agree more. And what drew you to the role of Chair for Think Malawi?
The ability to help students in need and breaking down the barriers to entry to schools. Being a Trustee of several student-facing charities and also running an international company called Otermans Institute which upskills underserved and unserved learners in the least accessible areas of the world like in UN refugee camps in Iraq and rural locations of Asia, it seemed like the right role for me.
What experience that you bring to Think Malawi do you think will most help in achieving its goals?
I serve over 31,000 learners from UN refugee and Internally Displaced People camps to rural Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, and 5 other countries. I am also at the forefront of using technology like Artificial Intelligence to help the global society meet Sustainable Development Goals goals of education. I believe these experiences will allow me to support the charity to both meet its goals and grow its impact to support the education of school children in Malawi.
Since January this year, I have also been working to empower female learners in South Africa and this experience could be very beneficial for Think Malawi.
By Nicola Cockroft, Think Malawi Marketing Volunteer
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