[100 Emerging Women Leaders] Khushboo Awasthi is leading the charge for systemic change in education

Born into a patriarchal family in Gaya, Bihar, where traditional gender roles often limit the aspirations of women, Khushboo Awasthi was expected to conform to rigid societal expectations.

However, she has broken barriers, reshaped perspectives, and is now a leading changemaker in India’s education sector.

In the last 11 years, Awasthi has built two organisations—ShikshaLokam and Mantra4Change—that has now grown into a movement led by two teams, with over 100 individuals and over 150 partner organisations.

“I come from a family where a lot of decisions for girls on what they can do or how much they can achieve in life are already decided. Thankfully, my mother was my champion and teacher who made sure I had the best opportunities in education and that I was not coerced into giving up my dreams,” she says.

Growing up in the 90s, the socio-political environment in the state was not very encouraging for young girls like Awasthi. Her mother took a stand and sent her out of Bihar to study engineering in Coimbatore, at a time when her cousins and girls in the extended family were getting married.

A job in Bengaluru followed soon after, but one thought remained with her.

“When I compared myself with my colleagues and how their lives had been living in another state like Karnataka, I believed one should always remember where one came from, because that defines a sense of achievement and responsibility,” she says.

While working, she volunteered with Samarthanam Trust during weekends and learned more about the NGO ecosystem, how different non-profit organisations exist, and this gave her a window into a possible alternate world. 

Awasthi also met her school friend, now husband and co-founder, Santosh More in Bengaluru, and through a similar story of origin, they found a shared commitment to create meaningful change. 

“The conversations we had shaped our vision for a better future,” she says. 

In 2010, Awasthi enrolled for a master’s in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Santosh pursued the Teach for India Fellowship where he worked with children and communities closely. 

In 2013, Khushboo and Santosh founded Mantra4Change in Bangalore, a city they considered the cradle of their independence and aspirations. “The idea was simple,” she shares. “We wanted to improve existing schools that catered to children from poor socio-economic backgrounds.”

From 2013 to 2015, the organisation worked on defining school improvement frameworks and methodology to make schools better evolved. They received support from professors from Azim Premji University and mentors like Sanjay Purohit (CEO, Centre for Experiential Change) and Kumari Shibulal and SD Shibulal (founder of Shibulal Philanthropies).

School Transformation and Empowerment Program (STEP) became its flagship program, and promoted collaboration among academic leaders, school heads, teachers and the larger community. The organisation focused on core areas of school improvement including school leadership practices, teachers’ competencies, student assessment and learning in the classroom, parental participation, and more.

“2017 has been the most crucial part of our journey as an organisation. We were in 50 schools and our ambitious plan was to be in 5,000 schools by 2020. Sanjay Purohit challenged us by asking, 'do you want to scale or do you want to grow?'”, she says.

“The question helped us realise we don’t have to work in each of the million schools,” Khushboo explains. “Instead, we design open and scalable solutions that others can adopt and build upon.” 

With this realisation, ShikshaLokam was born as a societal platform that nurtured such co-creation ecosystems for NGOs and developed shared technology capabilities that facilitate data-driven decision-making, enabling education stakeholders to implement systemic changes effectively.

Today, Mantra4Change's work spans six states, impacting over 2.6 lakh schools and 10 million children.

Awasthi’s vision extends beyond organisational impact. Through initiatives like the Punjab Education Collective and the upcoming Shikshagraha movement, she aims to unite nonprofits, governments, and communities to drive systemic change. 

The Punjab Education Collective is an example of this collaborative model, where a consortium of nonprofits worked with the state government to transform Punjab’s education system. “When we entered Punjab, it was among the poorest-performing states in education on parameters of both Achievement Survey and Performance Grading Index. Today, it ranks number one on these key national indices,” she proudly shares. 

“Half of the educational challenges are rooted in the socio-cultural fabric of the community,” she observes.

“If we can mobilise mothers, parents, self-help groups, panchayats and local youth, we can create a ripple effect of positive change that will scale and sustain.”

Shikshagraha is about catalysing effort in this direction - of deep collective action and building collective agency - towards a common purpose of enabling access to quality education to all children.

The organisations raise funds from CSRs, donors, philanthropies, and foundations. 

“In the last 11 years, not a single donor has dropped off. New ones have been added and some have also been co-opted as partners. Today, some of the biggest names are associated with Mantra4Change,” Awasthi says.

Looking ahead, Khushboo’s aspirations are ambitious. By 2030, she envisions a transformed education landscape in India, free from perennial challenges like poor literacy and employability. “Problems will remain,” she reflects, “but they should be different, and we will solve them differently.” 

Her vision for Shikshagraha involves creating a social movement that engages every stakeholder—from self-help groups to youth—in the mission to improve education.

As a woman in leadership, Khushboo has navigated implicit biases with grace. “The power dynamics often favour men in the room,” she notes. 

“But I realised that the more you engage with confidence and authenticity, the more you shift these perceptions.” Her ability to build trust and foster collaboration has not only earned her respect but also shifted perceptions among bureaucrats and stakeholders.

Khushboo’s journey has also been shaped by her ability to embrace challenges as opportunities for learning. “We’ve always been quick to adapt,” she says. “Every setback has taught us something invaluable about designing better programs and building stronger systems.”