Reducing the teacher gap and planning for equitable teaching

Martín is a Peruvian sociologist who served as the Minister of Education at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. He oversaw the country's pre-primary, primary, secondary, and higher education systems and designed the national strategy for distance education in response to the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2020, he served as the head of Peru’s National Superintendence of Higher University Education (SUNEDU), the regulatory body of Peru's university system, where he led the reform for improving the quality of higher education. From 2015 to 2018, Martín was also a member of its Board of Directors.

Muriel Poisson is the acting Team Leader for IIEP’s team on Knowledge Generation and Mobilization (KGeM). In this capacity, she coordinates and develops the foresight, research, communication, publication, and library functions of the Institute. She is also managing IIEP’s new research project, Using digital tools to promote transparency and accountability, as well as capacity-building activities targeting Civil Society Organisations.

In addition, she is the task manager of the Institute’s capacity-building programme on Ethics and Corruption in Education. She coordinated several international research projects on related issues, including open school data, open government in education, and teacher codes of conduct. She trained more than 3,000 people in the area and provided technical assistance to national teams in charge of developing an integrity risk assessment, a public expenditure tracking survey, or a teacher code of conduct. She is also managing ETICO, a dynamic clearinghouse on transparency and accountability issues in education.

Gregory Elacqua has conducted extensive research on schools in Latin America and has also been active in the politics of educational policy reform. His research and technical policy work focus on the economics of education, school finance and efficiency of spending, teacher policy, school accountability, school choice, centralized student and teacher assignment, and the political economy of the educational system. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Princeton University.

Hellen Inyega, Professor and Consultant, specialises in language education and foundational learning, teaching and assessment. With over 30 years of experience, she has worked with major development partners including ADEA, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Education Development Centre, CODE, GPE, RTI, USAID, UNICEF, and the World Bank. Hellen excels in designing instructional materials, developing teacher professional development programs, and conducting foundational learning (literacy, numeracy, and social-emotional learning) assessments.

Her expertise extends to strengthening educational program capacities, managing multicultural teams, and leading national educational strategies. A seasoned researcher and advocate, Hellen has significantly contributed to education and social welfare programming, focusing on evidence-based decision-making. She is known for her fundraising prowess, partnership development, and effective collaboration with state and non-state actors.

Hellen has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the World Literacy Council Award and grants from USAID and the World Bank. She holds a PhD in Reading Education, a Master's in Special Education, and several other academic qualifications. She is an active member of various educational boards and associations, providing leadership and mentorship in literacy and education across Africa.

Dhir Jhingran, a former IAS officer from the 1986 batch, is the Founder & Executive Director of Language and Learning Foundation (LLF), a non-profit focused on improving students’ foundational learning at scale. 

Dhir has worked in the primary education sector for over 30 years, within and outside the Indian Government. Within the Government, Dhir has served as Director in the Ministry of Education and Mission Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, as well as Principal Secretary, Education in Assam.

He has also been the Senior Advisor to UNICEF India and Advisor to the Ministry of Education in Nepal. He has made significant contributions to the development and implementation of early-grade reading programs in several countries in Asia and Africa, as well as first language-based multilingual education programs in several states in India.

Dhir is a member of the National Steering Committee for the development of the National Curriculum Framework. He also conducts an education module at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, for IAS officers at different stages in their careers.

Dhir has authored three books in primary education based on empirical research and has contributed to several books and journals. Dhir holds a master’s in economics and a PhD in Education. 

Kraiyos Patrawart is the Managing Director at the Equitable Education Fund (EEF), an independently-managed public fund for equitable education and human development in Thailand. Since 2020, Kraiyos has been appointed by the Royal Thai Government as a member of Thailand’s national education reform committee to oversee the national education reform plan and make policy recommendations to the Royal Thai Government in multiple education reform areas. 

Between 2017- 2019, Kraiyos was also a member of the Independent Committee on Education Reform (ICER) appointed by the Royal Thai Government. He had helped draft a number of key education reform legislations as authorized by the 2017 Constitution of Thailand. 

Before he was appointed EEF’s Managing Director, he was a Deputy Managing Director and Director of Research Institute at EEF. His previous positions include Assistant Managing Director on policy and research at the Quality Learning Foundation, Research Fellow at Harvard Institute for Quantitative Social Science and Teaching Fellow at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Barbara Tournier coordinates research and technical cooperation projects on teacher issues and the broader education workforce. She focuses specifically on how improved organisation of education systems can help better support teachers in their daily activities and enhance their motivation.

Barbara has led multi-country research programmes, notably on teacher careers and instructional leadership at the middle tier of education systems. She now directs the institute's work on middle-tier capacity analyses, exploring how staff and structures at this level can be leveraged to better support schools and frontline practitioners. Additionally, she supports the institute in domains such as integrated Human Resources Management Systems, leadership strengthening, and coordinating online or face-to-face training on teacher management.