Dr. Manjiri Nimbkar

Dr. Manjiri Nimbkar acquired an MBBS in 1981 and ran her own private practice as a general practitioner in an economically disadvantaged area of Phaltan town. She was renowned as a good diagnostician whose charges were reasonable. She founded a school for children with special needs in 1985 and ran it for four years. In 1989 she started the NIKOP Hospital Pvt. Ltd. with a group of doctors in Phaltan.

In 1995, she started working in the Kamala Nimbkar Balbhavan (KNB) of Pragat Shikshan Sanstha (PSS) in Phaltan, founded by Dr. Maxine Berntsen. She has held various roles in the organization over the years. She became the Principal of KNB in 2000, the Director and Treasurer of PSS in 2002, the Secretary of PSS in 2012, and the Vice-President of PSS in 2022.

She received the Barrister P.G. Patil Memorial award from the Satara District Secondary School Retired Principal’s Association for ideal Principal in 2006.

She obtained an MA in Elementary Education (winning the gold medal) from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 2008. It was a distance education course which she completed while working full time.

At school she believes in the development of children along with teachers and guides them accordingly. Teachers from KNB have many times received first prizes in the competitions for innovative teaching practices organized by the Government of Maharashtra.

She has carried out an impact assessment of the Learning Centers Initiative of Vidarbha Cluster and a review of the Educational Program and Strengthening Youth Groups initiative of Foundation for Education and Development, Jaipur for the Sir Ratan Tata Trust. She has also carried out a review of mathematics and language programs of Gram Mangal in Yeotmal and Chandrapur districts for UNICEF.

She has written many articles in magazines and newspapers in Marathi and English on education. In 2010 she wrote a book called Mulanche Srujanatmak Likhan (Children’s Creative Writing) based on the writing of students in KNB. She has put together a book called Mulanche Granthalay (Children’s Library) for library educators.