350books donated
A library for a school without one
Donated and catalogued with a digital inventory for Government Higher Primary School, Nagavarpalya, on KVS Foundation Day, 15 December 2022.
Jinu HarikeshPavithran
K-12 school leader for CBSE, ICSE and Cambridge schools
28 years in Indian schools, including nearly three as Head of School at Ekya School, Byrathi, where teacher attrition fell from 45% to 20% within two academic cycles. Before that, 23 years at Kendriya Vidyalaya, where she held academic, examination and administrative portfolios.
Open to Principal, Head of School and Academic Director roles. Based in Bengaluru.
NCERT National AwardInnovation in education, 2022
Cambridge CICELDistinction, 2025
28 yearsin K-12 schools
From the timetable to the examination hall, from the admissions desk to the accounts office, Jinu has run every part of a school. As Head of School, she ran all of them at once.
28
years in K-12 schools
23
years at Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan
49
staff led as Head of School
2,500
students on her co-curricular calendar
10yrs
as a CBSE Head Examiner, approximately
237
students mentored in design and innovation
Head of School, Ekya School Byrathi
A K-12 campus running ICSE and Cambridge CAIE pathways within Ekya's central academic and governance structure. Jinu was accountable for academic, people, operational, compliance and financial outcomes, and led the campus through a period of organisational instability.
Teacher attrition20%down from 45%
Student withdrawals16%down from 40%
49 staff and about 150 students
- 25 teachers
- 8 administrative
- 16 support
Set direction
Translated Ekya's organisational vision and central OKRs into campus priorities, implementation plans and performance reports for central leadership.
Raised teaching quality
Ran classroom observation, appraisal, coaching, mentoring and professional development, and strengthened inquiry-led pedagogy and formative assessment.
Hired and kept teachers
Chaired teacher recruitment, contributed to selection and compensation recommendations, and improved retention through mentoring and structured feedback.
Won back parent trust
Rebuilt trust through structured engagement and transparent communication, and supported admissions with prospective-parent engagement, competitor analysis and campus events.
Grew the curriculum
Owned ICSE and Cambridge CAIE affiliation documentation, compliance and inspection readiness, and designed the Cambridge AS Level subject map, staffing requirements and assessment cycle.
Ran operations and finance
Held campus budgets, petty cash, vendor approvals, procurement and key operational processes, alongside safeguarding and student wellbeing.
Every room in the building
A head of school answers for every part of the building. Select a room to see what Jinu has run there, at Ekya School and across 23 years at Kendriya Vidyalaya.
A career built one responsibility at a time
From a residential Navodaya school in 1998 to heading a K-12 campus, with each role adding a new part of the school to run.
Before headship: 23 years at Kendriya Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan runs the Government of India's central schools. From 2000 to 2023 Jinu taught Senior Secondary English and, alongside a full timetable, carried the portfolios that keep a large school running. Most recently that was KV DRDO, Bengaluru, a campus of about 2,500 students.
Every committee that keeps a school running
The school committees and portfolios she held at KV DRDO, Bengaluru, alongside a full teaching timetable.
The classroom work behind a national award
In 2022 NCERT selected Jinu's project for its National Award for Innovation and Experimentation in Education, one of 26 projects awarded across India that year. the Head of NCERT's Department of Teacher Education inspected the work on site in January 2023, and she presented it at the national seminar at CIET, NCERT, New Delhi, in July 2023.
ALS Project Work: A Means to an End
The project rebuilt the Class XI and XII listening and speaking assessment in CBSE English Core around design thinking. Students picked a real problem linked to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, researched it through observation, field surveys and interviews, then built, tested and pitched a solution: an app design, a product prototype, a service or a fundraiser.
English stayed at the centre. Interviews, research reports and the final pitch were all done in English, and the quieter students' ideas came in through techniques like worst-idea brainstorming.
"Students learn best when it is joyful, meaningful and aligned with their aspirational goals."
Internet-search presentations fell from 35 to zero. Design, business and product projects rose from 4 to 41.
Project types submitted by her Class XI and XII students, before and after design thinking
- 2021-22
- 2022-23, with design thinking
Fifteen real problems her students chose to solve
Each project tied a chapter theme to a UN Sustainable Development Goal.
- 237Grade 11 and 12 students mentored in design, innovation and entrepreneurship through the School Innovation Council she started with DRDO support.
- 54innovation projects from Grades 11 and 12: IoT devices, app prototypes, business models and service projects.
- 1stprize at the KVS national science exhibition in 2023, won by a smart waste bin team she mentored in design thinking, judged the best among the winners.
- 1 of 2Kendriya Vidyalayas at the five-day Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship bootcamp at NITTTR, Chennai, where she took her students in June 2023.
Beyond the school gate
When KV DRDO adopted a nearby government school under a school partnership project, Jinu and her Class XI and XII students set out to meet its most pressing needs. Their project work also reached into the neighbourhood.
2 daysa week, after school
Spoken English and computers
She and her student volunteers taught Grades 6 to 8 at the partner school, an hour at a time, with parents' consent.
6 to 12classes reached
Health and hygiene awareness
Seminars for girls, an anonymous question box she ran herself, incinerator training, and a crowdfunded sanitary pad drive at the partner school.
2 lakessurveyed by two student teams
Lake restoration
The Doddanekundi survey became a school entry for the National Children's Science Congress, and students met Anand Malligavad, known as the Lake Man of India.
Developing teachers
Resource person at school, cluster, regional and national level. As Academic Coordinator she also planned and ran her school's own training calendar for primary, secondary and senior secondary teachers.
- 2015
Planned a KVS cluster training programme and trained 45 teachers from Bengaluru's Kendriya Vidyalayas on PISA and competency-based questions.
- 2019
Resource person for KVS's 10-day Content Enrichment and Pedagogical Training for newly promoted PGT English teachers. Ran PISA, CCT and Back to Basics workshops for all staff.
- 2020
Trained every teacher at KV DRDO to teach online during the first pandemic wave, then monitored and supported classes. Ran a portfolio-writing workshop for secondary teachers.
- 2021
Workshop on experiential learning in the classroom for all staff.
- 2021-23
Annual workshops on NEP 2020 implementation and action planning, multidisciplinary projects with assessment rubrics, and subject enrichment planning.
- 2022
A 10-hour workshop for staff on English communication and official correspondence.
- 2023
Design thinking and idea generation for secondary and senior secondary teachers, plus an innovative pedagogy workshop with demonstration lessons in English, Maths and Science.
- 2023-26
At Ekya, classroom observation, appraisal, coaching and professional development for a 25-member teaching team.
To me the purpose of education is building independent lifelong learners who can synthesize and integrate information and ideas and grow up to be morally and ethically responsible members of the society.
Jinu Harikesh Pavithran
In their words
"She has been integral to all core school committees, like Academic planning, Examination, Timetables, CCA, NEP implementation, Grievance redressal ... Her organizational skills and thorough professionalism make her a valuable asset to the organization."
"Our teacher guided us throughout the process, provided us with innumerable ideas and gave us constructive criticism that helped us evolve."