Parmita Sarma

Sarma is from Assam and graduated from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Sarma met Mazin Mukhtar, an American working on school reform, during a school project, and the two founded Akshar Forum in Pamohi in 2015–16, starting with about 20 pupils from low-income families. She serves as chief operating officer and founding trustee of the Akshar Foundation.

In October 2018 the school replaced monetary fees with a requirement that pupils bring plastic waste gathered from their homes and the surrounding area each week. Sarma has said the change was prompted by the burning of plastic near the school, which filled classrooms with fumes: 'We wanted to change that and so started to encourage our students to bring their plastic waste as school fees.' Pupils sort the material at the Akshar Recycle Centre and pack non-recyclable plastic into bottles to make eco-bricks used in construction on the site.

The school combines academic teaching with vocational training in areas such as carpentry, recycling, first aid and animal care, and older pupils teach younger classes in return for a small honorarium. Sarma and Mukhtar subsequently launched an Akshar Fellowship to train teachers to take the model into government schools.

In 2019 Sarma received a Devi Award at the 17th edition of the awards, held in Kolkata, for her work at Akshar Forum; the award was presented by the Union minister for textiles and women and child development, Smriti Irani.[2][3][4][5][6]