Urvashi Sahni

Urvashi Sahni (born ) is an Indian social entrepreneur, educator, women's rights activist, and author. She was named as one of the BBC 100 Women of 2017, for her work towards education and empowerment of girls and disadvantaged children in India. She is the founder and chief executive officer of the Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF).

Her work primarily focuses on school governance, curriculum reform, teacher training, girls' education, and the use of technology in education. She is known for developing "Critical Feminist Pedagogy" and her contributions to education and social entrepreneurship. Sahni is also a non-resident fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and was a 2024 Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) Fellow at Harvard University.

Early life and education Sahni was born in 1955 into a business family in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. She was married at the age of 18, but she continued her studies, eventually graduating with a Master's degree in Philosophy from the University of Lucknow. Sahni has three brothers.

Career Sahni's career in women education, safety, and empowerment began in 1983 when she founded an organization, Suraksha after her 24-year-old cousin burnt to death—reportedly due to an accident that Sahni did not believe. The initiative evolved into the Study Hall Educational Foundation (SHEF), a social enterprise that now operates a network of schools and outreach programs.

One of the key SHEF's inititative is Prerna Girls School that offers affordable, rights-based education to over thousand girls from urban slum communities in Lucknow. Her pedagogical method, known as "Critical Feminist Pedagogy," is specifically designed to provide girls with critical thinking abilities to challenge patriarchal structures and assert their rights.

Other initiatives include Vidyasthali School, a rural institution; and Digital Study Hall (DSH), which employs technology to broaden educational access in remote areas. Additionally, she served on the sub-committee on school education for the Chief Minister's Advisory Council in Rajasthan.

Publications Sahni has authored and contributed to numerous works on education, gender, and pedagogy. Her book, Reaching for the Sky: Empowering Girls Through Education, was published by the Brookings Institution Press in 2017. She has also contributed chapters to other academic books, such as "Teaching boys to examine gender in patriarchal societies" in Girls' Education in the 21st Century: Gender Equality, Empowerment, and Growth (Brookings Institution Press, 2019) and "A life knowledge approach to life skills: Empowering boys with new conceptions of masculinity" in Life Skills Education for Youth: Critical Perspectives (Springer International Publishing, 2022). Sahni has also authored various other articles and research papers.

Sahni is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution, where her research centers on girls' empowerment via education and the application of technology. In 2011, she was named an Ashoka Fellow for her contributions with Digital Study Hall. She became an honorary member of the Clinton Global Initiative in 2014. In the same year, she was recognized as one of the BBC 100 Women most inspirational and influential women around the world.

In 2020, Tatler Asia included her in "Asia's Most Influential: The Impact List". More recently, in 2024, Sahni was selected as an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard University.

Personal life Sahni resides in her hometown city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India, and has two daughters.