In 2007, The Akanksha Foundation started it’s first school in Pune, and in over a decade, the organisation has grown to a network of 20 schools . One significant challenge that the organisation has faced each year has been identifying educators ( internally & externally) who are equipped to lead schools effectively. This has had a significant bearing on the ambitious goal that Akanksha had set for itself for the number of schools it intended to run or open year after year. The Akanksha School Leader Academy aspires to solve this very challenge by identifying teachers within the network of schools who have the potential and aspire to be leading schools within the network, and engaging them in a rigorous year long training program in- order to prepare them for leadership positions in the growing network of schools.

Through sessions with experienced school leaders, projects and case studies derived from schools, and a curated list of reading material, the academy intends to equip aspiring school leaders with the tools, skills and knowledge to take on the challenges that any leader would face, especially in the first few years of school leadership. While it would be extremely ambitious to try and cover every nuance of School Leadership in a year long training program considering the very nature of school leadership in complex urban settings, what the academy intends to do is to equip the aspiring school leaders with the tools, knowledge and the network to overcome the challenges they are bound to face. In its first year of inception, the academy intends to cover a range of topics that explores all aspects of being a school leader. A school leader is a role that extends beyond ensuring effecting teaching the classroom, into administrative matters, acting as counsellor for all stakeholders of the schools, setting a vision, upholding a bar of excellence and perhaps most importantly, acquiring a strong understanding of the self and others.

Trying to structure the rather esoteric notion of what makes an excellent school leader, will have innumerable benefits. Of these benefits, the most crucial will be our ability to share what we have learned with a wider audience in our mission to spread a culture of excellent education.