Ashok Kumar was born in Uttar Pradesh, India. He went through considerable personal pain of not being prepared by the existing education system to achieve his highest potential during his schooling.
Since he did not learn English during his schooling, he decided to educate his children in a very good English school. Despite enrolling them in a very reputed school and paying hefty fees through borrowed money, the dream of his children gaining fluency in English did not materialize. Neither did they pick up any values during their schooling days.
He was thus passionately driven to change the existing education methodology. He envisioned an education system that inculcates values and skills and helps students in realizing their true potential.
In 1992 he left the Army, worked for a few years elsewhere and after facing many obstacles, he started the Muni International school in 2002 on a 250- yard family owned land in Uttam Nagar, West Delhi, a slum area in those days. He made a humble beginning with just 28 students at a fee of 30 Indian Rupees per month, providing very basic infrastructure. Even with such low fees, most of the students were not able to pay the fees.
In the first few years, the school ran into losses. He used to fly to Dubai to earn money to pay the school’s expenses. It took him around 8 years of consistent efforts along with exemplary support of inspired teachers from within the community before their perseverance finally paid off, as the Muni model finally took off the ground and started running successfully.
His aim is to provide every student with ample opportunities so that every student can realize his true potential and dream. They are not just imparting excellent education but also making them morally upright citizens.
The school has been lauded as an exemplary case in the conceptualization and implementation of a model of teaching and learning that addresses the persistent crisis of effective and consistent teacher capacity-building, pedagogical innovations and financial sustainability that continues to afflict budget private schools in the country. His entire philosophy is beautifully enshrined in his latest book ‘Broken School System, Broke students are how to fix both’. This book is a must read by all academicians.
His outstanding contribution has also been recognised by the Indian Army. His goal is to make his students confident and self-sufficient. He is helping his students to become global citizens.
The contributions made by Ashok Kumar are outstanding and exemplary. He had a dream of a sustainable education system and he fulfilled it with hard work and determination. He is a self made man with considerable grit.