Soniya is an adventurous soul who cherishes life and is passionate about children and their education. She started her journey with Aga Khan Education Service (AKES, I) as a researcher in the primary classroom and moved on to initiating Whole School Learning and Development Processes for AKES, I schools. In a span of 22 years, she has supported schools in reflecting on and improving their curriculum and assessment practices, exploring innovative learning and teaching strategies, and designing needs-based professional learning for teachers. A certified Lead School Assessor, she reviews the quality standards of K-12 schools (curriculum agnostic) across India, conducts teacher performance reviews, and is a workshop leader in the areas of assessment, pedagogy, and concept-based learning.
Soniya is the former Head of School Learning Standards & Quality Assurance for a network of campuses for Shiv Nadar School. In her prior experience, she has been the Head of Junior School at Shiv Nadar School (Chennai, Noida) and the IB PYP Coordinator for Indus International School, Hyderabad. She also started her entrepreneurial venture—an Early Years Centre (Nursery to Grade 2) in Nagpur—and successfully administered it for five years.
An alumnus of Sophia College, Soniya holds a diploma in Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) secured in 2000, a Master of Education in Advanced Teaching for Elementary and Middle Years (affiliated with the International Baccalaureate) from the University of the People, and a Master of Arts in Education Management from SNDT. She was selected to attend an international certificate course in the Visiting Teachers’ Program, Dhaka, conducted by the Aga Khan University, Karachi. Early in her career, she dived into action research and presented her paper, ‘Community Involvement in the Primary Years’, at an international conference in Kampala in 1991. In 2003, she attended the Andover Bread Loaf Writing Workshop in Boston as an Indian representative.
Her passion for aligning quality standards for schools led her to become a School Assessor for Adhyayan in 2014. She continues to learn by enrolling with NEASC—an international school accreditation body—and is on her way to becoming a NEASC School Visitor. Soniya is passionate about systems thinking and evidence-based learning and believes every child can flourish if offered the right learning environment.
In her free time, Soniya enjoys reading, walking, travelling, dancing, and walking her dog. She also loves connecting with like-minded individuals to explore possibilities.