Ahalya Chari

Ahalya Chari (1921 – 30 March 2013) was an Indian educationist and the first commissioner of the Kendriya Vidyalaya chain of schools, a system of education under the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) India. Her efforts are recognised towards the establishment of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 1983.

Biography Ahalya Chari was born in 1921 in Rangoon, the capital of British Burma. She did her schooling at a girl's convent school run under the British curriculum and graduated from the University of Rangoon in English Literature in 1941. The Second World War forced her family to leave Burma and the family fled to Benares, stopping over at a refugee camp at Shwebo and Calcutta on the way. Settling in Benares, she did her master's degree at Benaras Hindu University and started her career in 1943 as a lecturer at the Vasanta College for Women, where she worked for 10 years. as a student for advanced training in education. she was appointed as the principal of the Regional Institute of Education, Mysore.

In the early 1960s, the Ministry of Human Resource Development established the Central School system and placed the chain of schools under the administration of a central office, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), with Chari as the first commissioner of the central administrative office. and joined the Indian philosopher to work at the Rajghat Education Centre in Varanasi. and served as a trustee of the foundation. She also published two books, Thinking Together, published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in 1997 (in Hindi and English), and Selections from the Decades: On Self-Knowledge, published by KFI in 2001. She also delivered lectures