Door Step School

Executive Commitee

Door Step School’s Executive Committee was formed at the inception of the organisation in 1989. The Executive Committee is part of the formal structure of the Organisation when it was set up as a non-profit entity.

Rajani Paranjpe

Founder – President

Mrs. Paranjpe (or Rajani Tai as she is fondly called) founded the Door Step School along with her ex-student Bina Lashkari, out of her passion for children and education. As a professional Social Worker she realized that Education was the single most important factor that could bring about a change in the lower strata of society. With this goal in mind she founded the Door Step school which today has become a 750+ member strong organization.

Rajani Tai has a Masters in Social Work and is a retired professor, having taught subjects like Indian Social Problems and International Social Welfare. She has held posts at both the College of Social Work, Mumbai and the Shikoku Christian University, Japan and has a teaching experience of more than 20 years. In addition to teaching she has also headed the Research Department and Anganwadi Training Center at the College of Social Work.

Bina Sheth Lashkari

Co-Founder, Secretary and Executive Director

At Door Step School’s very inception, Mrs. Lashkari took the first non formal education class in the then Dalit Ambedkar Nagar. Ever since, her links to the communities have remained strong. As the organisation’s work and the team expanded, she took on the crucial leadership role. She continues to head the Mumbai branch of Door Step School.

Her work has been acknowledged by many. She was awarded the Ashoka fellowship in 2002, the Mayor’s award on Women’s Day in 2002 and more recently in 2009, the Ahilya bai Holkar award on Maharashtra Day. She has a Masters degree in Social Work from College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai.

Nitin Dadia

Treasurer

A business man and a philanthropist, he has a keen interest in promoting education of the underserved child. He has been involved with Doorstep school since the very beginning.

Dr. Neela Dabir

Member

Prof. Dabir is currently the Dean of  School of Vocational Education at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Her areas of interest include Violence against women, street children and Juvenile Justice and vocational education She has been a social worker with different NGOs for more than 12 years and has been in academics for 20 years. She is a Master of Social work and also holds a Doctorate Degree. She has authored two books and and many research reports in her areas of interest.

Arnavaz Kharas

Ex Officio member

Joined Door Step School as a Programme Coordinator since January 1995. She was invited to join the Executive Body in 2000.

Since 2008, has taken on the role of Director – Training, assessing and attempting to meet training needs for all cadres within Door Step School, Mumbai and offering support as required to Parivartan – Door Step School’s Training Centre in Pune.