Panchami Manoo Ukil is a school leader with a difference. A multifaceted influencer, spirited and dynamic, she has an infectious positivity that reaches out to everyone around her. Passionate about children, she infuses the curriculum with her own brand of original ideas, be it a celebration of our culture and roots, bonding with nature, or, simply, engaging with the little ones with a heart overflowing with love. An inspiration for many, and a supportive motivator for the teams she works with, she gathers everyone into a happy circle woven with her own brand of wisdom, warmth, affection, and concern.

An alumnus of Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, Jaipur, and a gold medalist (first class first) in Economics from Utkal University, she brings her impeccable academic training to facilitate her role and responsibilities at The DN Wisdom Tree Global School. Ms Ukil is well known for her work as an avid naturalist and keen photographer, and is the recipient of the prestigious Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award for 2022.

She believes that the prime responsibility of educators is to lead children towards imbibing wisdom that incorporates knowledge, skills, and values. A hands-on leader, she emphasizes that we can make a real difference in education only when we consciously make the switch from ‘informational’ to ‘transformational.’

She writes naturally and with great spontaneity on issues and matters close to her heart, which endears her readers to ask for more. Her interests and practices are wide-ranging, with conviction anchored in the essence of connectedness at the core, grounded in the indomitable human spirit.

As School Leader and Vice Chairperson of The DN Wisdom Tree Global School, she has played a crucial role in the evolution and growth of the institution since its conception and inception. From campus design to curriculum and pedagogy, grooming and empowering teachers, helping moms find their way back to work, to introducing unique activities like nature walks, Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) programme, bagless school days, a rich festival observance calendar, practice of a heritage code, initiating a tree-planting initiative to revive an endangered species called Mission Palash, enabling the roll out of a one of its kind Wisdom Finishing School Programme as part of the curriculum, Ms Ukil has led the school on many pioneering paths. Presently, she is actively exploring the establishment of a Miyawaki Forest on the school campus to create a mini woodland for children. A voracious reader and lover of books, Ms Ukil has ensured that the school library is fabulously stocked with books, while also creating reading nooks around the campus.

The DN Wisdom Tree Global School has evolved from her vision of creating a unique temple of learning in Odisha, where children are nurtured and mentored on the path of excellence not through pedagogy alone but through a curated stream of co-scholastics, life-skills training, embedded in a joyous learning environment.

Ms. Ukil has captained the creation of a novel R&D Cell headed by an eminent educationist of the country to ensure that global best practices are integrated into the school curriculum in an ongoing manner, an initiative rarely seen in other contemporary institutions. The fundamental goals of this initiative are enabling children to discover their potential and work towards perfecting them, by providing them with best resources and an environment of best practices. Her approach is that we must mould our children with love and wisdom into skilled, empathetic, and responsible global citizens so that we can look forward to a generation that will contribute substantially and qualitatively towards nation-building.

From penning the Wisdom Anthem to conducting bird and tree census on campus, christening the various academic houses and the facilities, introducing heritage field visits as well as biodiversity field trips, her efforts are always focused on unlocking that kernel of wisdom in our children so that each one of them emerges as a beautiful and noble tree, striking the perfect balance between the 3Es – Empathy, Empowerment, Excellence and the 3Rs – Respect, Resilience, Responsibility.

A true leader, Panchami Manoo Ukil is the pivot as well as the anchor of The DN Wisdom Tree Global School. A team builder par excellence, she constantly encourages the team of mentors and facilitators to sincerely endeavour to provide a joyous learning experience and an enabling environment for the children. She takes pride in the school providing a secure, nourishing, and happy space that children look forward to coming every morning. She enables parents as compatriots with her guidance, to bring in their inputs, so that the journey of imparting learning becomes holistic in the truest sense.

Giving back to society has been key to her work throughout her career. In recent times, she has facilitated donation of mobile phones to children of underprivileged communities to enable online learning. She has supported schooling of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in her personal capacity. With the help of corporate partners, she was instrumental in raising Rs.11 crores to revitalize the quality of life of villagers of the Mangalajodi wetland. Her efforts ensured that every household in Mangalajodi village got a toilet, a gas connection, water supply through tubewells and rejuvenation of ponds, a community centre for the village, solar lights, and livelihood support in the form of training for guides and boats. Ms Ukil then went on to create a school outreach programme by adopting Mangalajodi, and ensuring regular biodiversity field trips for the students of The DN Wisdom Tree Global School.

Ms. Ukil is the Chairperson of the Managing Committee of Ila Panda Centre of Arts, a non-profit, with the mission of showcasing, promoting and conserving the visual arts of Odisha. Her brainchild ‘The Bhubaneswar Bird Walks’ began in 2012, and, later, she co-founded ‘Song of the Wild’ to work on deeper issues of wildlife conservation. With the first ever bird walks in Odisha, she helped create a culture of birdwatching in the state. She regularly takes school children for bird walks and nature walks to instill in them the finer nuances of concern for environment and climate change.

She writes regularly for several magazines and journals including Sanctuary Asia and Indian Birds. She was featured in Discovery Channel’s programme on Odisha. She was the only woman from Odisha to be featured in Sanctuary Asia’s special edition on Women in our Wilds. She recently published all the works of Sahitya Akademi award-winning poet Nirmala Devi under the title Nirmala Devi Kabita Samagra. She is a co-author of the special edition, Magic of Mangalajodi. Ms Ukil is presently working on two special volumes – a biography of the President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu, and an English translation of Nirmala Devi’s poems.

Also read: The DN Wisdom Tree Global School