Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2016
Capt. Raj Mohindra
Citation
Mumbai-based Capt. (Retd.) Raj Mohindra is widely acknowledged as the prime mover behind the establishment of India’s first IBO, Geneva-affiliated international school — the Mahindra United World College of India (MUWCI), Pune — almost 20 years ago. A distinguished officer of the Indian Navy (1950-1975), former general manager of the Shipping Corporation of India (1975-1989) and former chief executive of the Indian Express newspapers group, in 1982, Capt. Mohindra was commissioned to establish the subcontinent’s first IBO, Geneva-affiliated higher secondary school by the London-based office of the United World College (UWC) — an international education movement which has promoted 16 UWC schools and colleges worldwide. However, in the heyday of licence-permit-quota regimen of pre-liberalisation India, it took him 15 years to cut through red tape and obtain the necessary licences and permits before MUWCI, admitted its first batch of 100 students in 1997. Since then, it has matured into one of India’s Top 5 wholly residential international schools. In EWISR 2016 it is ranked #3 nationally.
In 1998 after having successfully brought MUWCI on-stream, Mohindra promoted Mumbai-based Raj Mohindra Consultants (RMC) Pvt. Ltd with the objective of helping enlightened corporates and edupreneurs to promote and establish high-quality K-12 schools. Since then, RMC has been a project consultant to seven top-ranked internationally benchmarked education institutions including the Dhirubhai Ambani International, Mumbai, Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai, Pathways World School, Aravalli, Niraj International, Hyderabad, and Stonehill International, Bangalore among others. The consultancy’s research division has also published valuable manuals on rules and regulations governing promotion and management of high-end, capital-intensive schools in India. Moreover in 2003, RMC was project consultant of the Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery, Mumbai — Asia’s largest gemmology vocational school.
For his extraordinary contribution to the growth and development of primary-secondary education, particularly for enabling the entry of globally-benchmarked international education institutions in India, and for his tireless advocacy of the right of private edupreneurs to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, the Board of Directors and Editors of EducationWorld are privileged to present Capt. Raj Mohindra the EW Lifetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2016 and induct him into the EW Hall of Fame of Indian education.