Why we chose Sharath as a Fellow

Sharath has always been passionate about education: prior to founding STIR, Sharath founded Teaching Leaders, a UK-based education nonprofit. Through Teaching Leaders he realized the potential that teachers could play in leading education reform, particularly in developing countries like India. Sharath's belief is that a lack of teacher motivation is causing a learning crisis with significant implications for the future.

Primary education systems are failing students, who are leaving school without basic literacy and numeracy. STIR believes teachers are much of the problem -- given that 25% of teachers are absent every day in India -- but that they are most of the solution. STIR is creating a movement of motivated, effective teachers; finding them, bringing them into an effective network, and helping them and their peers to get better at what they do. STIR has worked with more than 15,000 teachers across India and Uganda and has the potential to drive much better public-sector education throughout the world.