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born 1966

Kiran Bir Sethi was no stranger to the power of design. Her father created India's first lathe machine; she went on to use her visual-communication degree to design restaurants. But, it wasn't until she put her training towards designing empowering educational experiences that Kiran found her true calling.

Dissatisfied with the schools available to her sons, she decided to open her own. Her common-sense + creative curriculum asked kids to take charge ~ in the classroom and in their communities. Today, Kiran and her Riverside School are at the forefront of the global movement Design for Change that has catalyzed hundreds of thousands of child changemakers.

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her quotes

all quotes by Kiran Bir Sethi (10)

"When children are empowered, not only do they do good, they do well."

Kids, take charge | november 2009

"When I started Riverside school 10 years ago it became a lab, a lab to prototype and refine a design process that could consciously infect the mind with the 'I Can' bug."

Kids, take charge | november 2009

"Education should teach us that 'we can.'"

A Conversation with Kiran Bir Sethi | september 2011

"If today you are better than yesterday, that is The Good Life. If today I have learned something from yesterday, that is leading The Good Life."

A Conversation with Kiran Bir Sethi | september 2011

"Empathy is slowing down a bit and being able to observe the patterns of behavior that are linked to an area that causes concern. It's with that pause and stepping back that you truly understand what might need to be the solution."

Empathy 101: Feel. Imagine. Do. Share. | october 2011

"We're more often than not solving the wrong problems. And then we wonder why change doesn't happen."

Empathy 101: Feel. Imagine. Do. Share. | october 2011

"'I can't' . . . It's a subversive message that on a daily basis our children get from the 'system.' It's about the subtle-explicit instructions regarding their day-to-day learning when they are told to do 'as instructed,' with no room for creativity, choice, opinions."

Ready for the Real World | may 2014

"A lot of the lessons that happen in schools are left open-ended and unfinished. Students don't know why what they're learning is important . . . Let's just chuck the whole thing out and start from a completely fresh template."

Ready for the Real World | may 2014

"The basic message that Design for Change tells everyone is that children are not helpless, that change is possible and that they can drive it."

Kiran Bir Sethi interview at EDULEARN14 | july 2014

"I teach because I love learning. And, no two days are ever the same—so, everyday I can become an explorer or an artist, a magician or a storyteller!"

Kiran Bir Sethi - Global Teacher Prize - Top 10 Finalist | february 2015

quoteurs we recommend...

Pearl Arredondo
education reformer
Maya Lin
artist | environmentalist
Maria Montessori
global education innovator

for further reading about Kiran Bir Sethi:

  • Quotabelle profile
  • Kiran Bir Sethi

curated with care by Alicia Williamson {april 2015}

The Riverside School | student body

Kiran founded Ahmedabad's Riverside School in 2001. Inspired create a new kind of learning experience for her sons, she started with just 27 students ~ including her eldest child Raag. Today, the K-12 school has a student body of about 400, and the institution has led the way in teacher training, local initiatives to forge kid-friendly spaces + policies and international kid empowerment programs. Critics were skeptical of Kiran's practical, hands-on lesson plans ~ like designing new trash bins for municipal parks or audio tours for the city zoo ~ but her students regularly outperform the top 10 schools in India.

Varkey Foundation

Design for Change | What We Do

Kiran founded Design for Change in 2009 using the prototype she pioneered at the Riverside School. She launched the international movement with support from the Ashoka network and a TED Talk helped take her program from 30,000 schools in India to 24 countries the following year. Today, the simple + effective curriculum of Design for Change {Feel. Imagine. Do. Share.} has inspired children to step up to make a difference in more than 35 countries. Here, the social entrepreneur stands with a handful of the hundreds of thousands students she has helped "infect" with the "I Can" bug!

Design for Change

Kiran Bir Sethi | Global Teacher Prize

No surprise, Kiran's a top-10 finalists for the Varkey Foundation's 2015 Global Teacher Prize. Besides being the director of both The Riverside School + Design for Change, the high-impact social entrepreneur is also still a full-time teacher who relishes her time in the classroom.

Varkey Foundation