Advisory Board

DENZIL D’MELLO

Mr. D’Mello has been practising as an advocate in the Bombay High Court for the last 21 years. From 2000 to 2007 he was Assistant Government Pleader for the Maharashtra State Government at the Bombay High Court. During this time he was involved in matters related to the constitution, land acquisition, property and service.

HAVOVI KOLSAWALLA

Ms. Kolsawalla has been involved in English Language Teaching (ELT) since 1974 and has had experience in teaching a whole range of students from pre primary level to adults. These included both Indian and foreign students. She has also been involved in teacher training projects and creative methodology in the classroom. She has done her post graduate Certificate and Diploma courses from CIEFL (now know as EFLU) and has an MA in ELT from the University of Warwick and B’Ed from the Bombay University.

Besides her ELT work, she has also been a Principal of two schools before freelancing for a while when she set up a Centre for English Language learning for adults and children.

MITESH THAKKAR

With over 15 years of diverse experience in the education sector, ranging from working with the World Bank on education projects in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East to being an English teacher in Thailand, Mitesh currently manages the operations and business development at RAN Research. Prior to founding RAN Research, Mitesh worked as Research Director at Altai Consulting, Afghanistan, and co-founded Pratham’s education initiatives in Western India. Mitesh has a Bachelor’s degree in Astronomy from University of Texas, Austin, an Ed.M. in Education Policy from Harvard University, and an MBA from INSEAD.

PROF. RANDHIR KHARE

Prof. Khare has been working in the field of education in India for the last thirty-five years. His experience covers policy planning, human resource development in the private and public education sector, formal and non-formal teacher training, community education and most importantly teacher training with a focus on developing relevant teaching strategies and low-cost teaching aids. During the course of his career he has worked with a number of international, national, regional and local organizations and institutions including UNICEF, The Ministry Of Human Resources Development, The National Literacy Mission, The State Governments of Punjab/Jammu And Kashmir/Madhya Pradesh, The National Society For Clean Cities, The Spastics Society Of India, The Nilgiris Adivasi Trust, The Nilgiris Adivasi Welfare Association and a host of schools and colleges in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.

He is also an established writer and poet and has published twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, translation and social history, winning a number of national and international literary awards.