Suchika is a doctor, surgeon and educator who pioneered progressive education in Nagpur. She trained in medicine and surgery in India and the UK, and has worked with children in operating theatres, emergency departments, wards and clinics. She holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School, London, where she was a Rajiv Gandhi Scholar, and has worked across India, the UK and Germany. Her understanding of education is personal as well as professional. As a child she moved between progressive and traditional schools, and has since studied education systems across India, England and Europe in depth. Her clinical background and years as an educator give her a strong foundation in child development, built on through extensive training in early years practice. She is one of only two Minds in Motion kinaesthetic learning trainers in India, and her work draws on a six-month immersion in the Reggio Emilia approach, the Finnish Foundations of Early Childhood Learning programme with Learning Matters, and Gold Standard Project-Based Learning from PBLWorks. When Suchika moved to Nagpur from Germany, progressive education did not exist in the city. She founded The Children’s Garden at a time when the idea was so unfamiliar that few understood what it meant. Since then she has led a movement in which Nagpur’s parents have begun to question the education system rather than take it for granted, and she continues to champion that change today. Suchika is a committed advocate for children’s rights, and The Children’s Garden is guided by the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). She sees this as ongoing, demanding work. Building a culture where every adult understands children’s rights, and the responsibilities that come with them, takes constant attention. Training people to uphold those values every day is a challenge she embraces as central to the school’s mission. As a mother, she understands parents who feel torn between a progressive approach and traditional schooling.

Amol is a doctor and health systems professional whose work spans healthcare, education, rural development and public policy. He trained in medicine in Nagpur and completed an MSc in Health Services Management at the University of London, through the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics. He began his career in the UK’s National Health Service before moving into hospital management in India, including at Fortis Escorts, Jaipur. He went on to work in international healthcare and development across the UK, Germany, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Nepal, the UAE and Nigeria. That work shaped his core conviction: lasting change depends not only on good ideas, but on building institutions that can deliver them consistently. On returning to Nagpur, Amol and Suchika built the HERD ecosystem, which spans healthcare, education, pharmacy, rehabilitation, cooperative finance, sustainable agriculture and social development. He sees these not as separate sectors but as connected parts of people’s lives: health shapes education, education shapes opportunity, and strong local institutions decide how much change actually reaches a family. His work has also taken him into national policy research and into years of direct work with communities across rural Nagpur district on healthcare, agriculture, livelihoods and financial inclusion. In 2006 he was selected for the inaugural Asia 21 Young Leaders programme of the Asia Society. At heart, Amol approaches every problem as a doctor would: listen carefully, understand the underlying cause and build a solution that lasts. For him, The Children’s Garden is part of a larger purpose, which is building institutions with values that help create a healthier, better educated and more equitable society.