The Pandemic’s Big Disruption of Schooling Calls for Close Analysis

Aditya Narayan Rai was a Research Fellow with the Education team. He completed his post-graduate degree in Public Policy and Governance from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru. Before joining Vidhi, he was working with the Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM) for over a year and was the Research Associate and Project Holder for two academic research studies – ‘Impact Evaluation of PMKVY and CMKKY in selected districts of Karnataka’ and ‘Skill Gap Study in selected districts of Karnataka’. He has also worked with the Jharkhand State Livelihoods Promotion Society as a Young Professional, where he was primarily responsible for the implementation of Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana in the Khunti district of the state. His area of interest includes Education, Livelihoods, and Governance. He also has a keen interest in Cricket and Lawn Tennis.

Nisha was a Senior Resident Fellow and lead Vidhi's work in the area of Education. She has completed her postgraduation from SOAS, University of London with an MSc in Development Economics, and received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Symbiosis School of Economics. Prior to Vidhi, she has worked as a project coordinator and research assistant at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, London and Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, respectively on multiple projects relating to early childhood and elementary education, education policy, and gender. Some of these projects include working on understanding implementation of Right to Education, Act (specifically the provision under Section 12.1.c or the “25% mandate”) in Ahmedabad, parental preferences for private schools among low-income households, and the impact of a pre-school curriculum and pedagogical intervention in angwandis in rural Odisha. She regularly writes on topics of gender and education for media outlets such as The Wire, Ideas for India and The Quint, among others.

Karan Singhal is currently working as a visiting researcher at Luxembourg Institute of Socioeconomic Research (LISER) and a doctoral student at University of Luxembourg. He was previously associated with Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad as a Research Officer where he led projects on topics in urban governance, education and early childhood.