- Founder Director, Aatman Academy
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Ms. Manjushree Patil is the Founder Director of Aatman Academy, a customized learning and specialized instruction inclusive school for children with diverse learning needs that has been ranked among the top ten schools in the same
category for three consecutive years, by the Education World Magazine. She has been in the field of education for 30 years serving as a teacher, special educator, and a teacher educator and a principal of a Cambridge International school.
A two-time TEDx Speaker and a recipient of the Americans with Disabilities Act Anniversary Fellowship on Inclusive
Education, by the US State Department of Education at the University of Minnesota, she is also an Acumen India Fellow, a mentee of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Mentoring Women in Business Programme (UK) and the Legatum Summer School (Tuscany, Italy).
She has been an Advisor, Consultant and Chief Trainer for a yearlong statewide programme on Inclusive Education with the Gov.of Maharashtra, impacting more than 5 lakh teachers from 36 districts of Maharashtra. Manjushree is the Country Director of Samanta India (the India presence of THINK EQUAL, UK) the first global education initiative on Social Emotional Learning for early years learners, that has been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Office. She continues to support the Education Dept. by training teachers, parents and othe staff members.
Manjushree is a qualified special educator who has completed her D.Ed. (Diploma in Education) and her B.Ed. (Bachelor in Education) degree in Special Education from SNDT University after graduating in English Literature and Linguistics. She has also completed her M.Ed. (Master in Education), with a dissertation on Teacher Education.
She has trained over 60,000+ individuals from all fields of work which primarily include teachers, principals, parents, college students, lawyers, business professionals, film and theatre school faculty, doctors, therapists and many others.
Through the Aatman Academy for Research and Training (AART) Ms. Patil has designed a unique course for in-service teachers, school heads and educators to equip them with the skills to become inclusive education practitioners. The course which is called CHILD (an acronym for Certificate in Holistic Inclusion of Learners with Diversities) has been endorsed by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. It has received a grant from the TATA TRUSTS -Individual Grants Programme by Sir Dorabjee Tata Trust which has offered fellowships to 25 participants who have been selected through a rigorous process for the course.
Manjushree is the recipient of numerous awards. Recently, she was one among only seven women achievers who were awarded the Lokmat Sakhi Sanman Puraskar at the state level.
She has been learning, practising and performing Hindustani vocal music since the age of three years. She completed her Sangeet Visharad, having stood first in Pune for the same exam. She has been blessed with stalwart gurus such as
Padmabhushan Shobha Gurtu, Padmashri Dr.Veena Sahasrabuddhe, Dr. Alka Deo Marulkar and her mother Dr. Shobha Gurjar who was the Dean of the Music Dept. at SNDT Pune. Having performed widely across the country her achievements include, rendering the lead vocal support as well as singing her own classical compositions in a two hours dance ballet called “Hey Nadey Saritey” by the renowned Kathak exponent Ms.Sonia Parchure. She recently also performed classical renditions at the TEDx event where she was a speaker.
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