Dr. Simmi Mahajan is the Chief Human Resources Officer at Sri Aurobindo Society and Chief Programme Officer for Project Inclusion, the Society’s flagship initiative in inclusive education. A doctor by qualification and with over 30 years of experience across the health and education sectors, she brings extensive expertise in inclusive education, health education, mental health training, and counselling for parents and educators.
A strong advocate for inclusive practices, Dr. Mahajan has played a pivotal role in human resource development, leadership building, and institutional capacity strengthening at Sri Aurobindo Society.
She is a recipient of the Dr. Yudhvir Singh Award for her contributions to homeopathy and serves on the Autism Committee of Andhra Pradesh. Her research, titled “A multi-method cognitive and observation assessment model for identifying learning needs in Indian inclusive classrooms,” has been published in Frontiers in Education, contributing to the growing body of research on innovative models in inclusive education.
Sri Aurobindo Society (SAS), headquartered in Puducherry is a global non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting human development, education, social transformation, and the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.
Through its education vertical, Rupantar, the Society works to transform education by promoting innovative, inclusive, and learner-centred approaches. A flagship initiative of Rupantar is Project Inclusion (PI), launched in 2016 to advance inclusive education for children with diverse learning needs. Project Inclusion works across the education ecosystem by sensitising and training educators, enabling early identification of learning needs, providing structured interventions, and strengthening collaboration among teachers, parents, special educators, leaders and other professionals. Its digital platform and mobile application support educators with screening tools, learner profiling, intervention plans, and continuous learning resources.
Project Inclusion is aligned with the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and SDG 4, and seeks to make inclusion an integral part of mainstream education rather than a parallel system. Through partnerships with government institutions, schools, universities, and other stakeholders, PI is building a scalable ecosystem for equitable, accessible, and inclusive education across India.