Speaker Profiles Adarsh Sharma Dr Adarsh Sharma is presently a freelance consultant in the field of ECE and human development. She is the country coordinator of Asia Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC). She was associated with the establishment of Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), Ambedkar University, as a visiting Professor (20092012). She has masters in Human Development and Family studies, from MS University of Baroda where she was also a Ford Foundation Fellow. As a Full Bright Scholar her post-doctoral work has been on ‘Techniques and methods for evaluation and appraisal of Early Childhood Interventions at Pennsylvania State University. She retired as Executive Director of the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) IN 2005. She been a member of the ECE subgroup of India’s National Curriculum Framework put together by NCERT and also an expert member of the National Technical Advisory Group. Ajit Mohanty Dr Ajit Mohanty is an ECE expert; he has served for 28 years as a Professor at Utkal University and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Psychology. He is the founder director of two international projects ‘From Mother tongue to other tongue’, and ‘National Multilingual Education Resource Consortium at JNU. He has written extensively on psycho-linguistics, multilingualism, and multilingual education focusing on education, poverty among linguistic minorities for various international and national journals. An international consultant, to Government of Finland and Nepal for Developing Multilingual Education Policy and Strategy, and headed a team in Odisha to draft the recent policy for Mother
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tongue based Multi-lingual education for young tribal children. He has been conferred honorary Fellowship of the National Academy of Psychology, India and Association of Psychological Science, USA. He was also a national fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). He has his Ph.D from Alberta University, Canada. Akshaya Biswal Mr Akshaya Biswal is the Regional Manager, Odisha and South India Oxfam India. In the past he has worked with UNDP on disaster management. He has completed his MA in social work from National Institute of Social work & Social Sciences (NISWASS). Ambika Nanda Dr Ambika Nanda is the State Head, CSR for Tata Steel in Odisha. He has worked with ActionAid International, UNDP and other international NGOs on the issue of education, land training and capacity building. He was a member of the State Planning Board of Government of Odisha and facilitated democratic space for the civil society organization to share evidences from the field to influence policy work. He has done his Ph.D on ‘Universalization of Primary Education in South Asia’ from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. Anil Pradhan Mr Anil Pradhan is the Member Secretary of Sikshasandhan an NGO that has been working on nonformal education, and experimental education for projects supported by the Ministry of Human resource development, Government of India. He has pioneered and designed training programs for teachers, and village level education committees for the marginalized communities. And also been the editor for a book ‘In their own voices: Stories, memories, impressions of tribals in Orissa’, 2010.