Chetna Sabharwal | Director
Association of Indian Principals (AIP)

Dr. Chetna Sabharwal is Director, Partnerships at the Association of Indian Principals (AIP), a role she has held since 2021. AIP is a pioneering non-profit dedicated to fostering excellence in India's education sector, providing a platform where principals, heads of institutions, and stakeholders convene to address the challenges facing the country's education system. Under this mandate, Dr. Sabharwal works to connect education leaders across district, state, and national levels, drawing on expertise from government, industry, and the social sector to build tangible, sustainable solutions for India's Principals community — extending AIP's reach into policy dialogue, institutional alliances, and cross-border collaboration. With over 30 years of leadership spanning mathematics education, educational psychology, career mentorship, and entrepreneurship, Dr. Sabharwal has guided more than 30,000 young lives across 18 global markets. Her career reflects a consistent conviction: when talent is identified early and matched with informed guidance, education has the power to change the trajectory of a life. Beyond her role at AIP, Dr. Sabharwal is Founder Director of SkillsReform Pvt. Ltd. and the architect behind two significant innovations reshaping how schools understand student potential — NCCA Assessments and the Early Employability Index. NCCA integrates neurocognitive insight, interest mapping, and metacognition with future-skill frameworks, helping schools spot capability gaps before students make consequential career decisions. She has extended this architecture into careerreform.ai, a mobile-first, counsellor-guided platform that pairs AI-driven scale with the human judgment needed to preserve context, dignity, and choice in career guidance. Her policy contributions include service as a Mentor of Change with NITI Aayog, and she serves on the EdTalk advisory board and Junior Academy. Her impact has also been recognised on the global stage as a Global Juror for the UN SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) since 2019 — work that connects her education leadership to international sustainability and economic development goals. Dr. Sabharwal's contributions have earned wide recognition, including the Women Achievers Award (2024), the Business Leader Award in Skills Augmentation and the 111 Power Women Award (both 2021), and, in 2017, Shiksha.com's Expert of the Year, Top 25 Mentors of India, and the Jeevan Kaushal Ratna. She is a published expert contributor to the New York Academy of Sciences. A sought-after voice in education and edtech circles, Dr. Sabharwal has spoken and served on panels at AWS, EDUtech Asia, EdTalk World, SchoolTechX, the Rosedale Leadership Series, the S. Chand Mathematics Summit, and numerous national education forums. She is a confirmed speaker at EDUtech Asia 2026 in Singapore, joining a panel on balancing innovation with caution in schools' adoption of AI — a topic that sits squarely at the intersection of her work on AI-enabled assessment and responsible educational technology. Her broader body of work is oriented toward nation-building purpose: aligned with India's Viksit Bharat 2047 vision and UN SDGs 4, 8, 9, and 10, Dr. Sabharwal's 360-degree model brings together learners, parents, educators, institutions, government, and industry — working to ensure that India's employability keeps pace with its economic growth.