Our people
Prof. M M Pant – Founder & Chief Mentor
Prof. Pant has been promoting the ideation, development and delivery of educational products, processes and services for the next generation learning in the post Internet post WTO world. In keeping with the needs of the emerging Knowledge Economy, he is exploring the attributes of quality Knowledge products and the means of enhancing the productivity of Knowledge workers through right education.
With the above in mind and a mission to create and implement new business opportunities in the area of knowledge products and services, Prof. Pant promoted Planet EDU as a new age education corporate, with the mission to ‘deliver innovative educational services globally’ and a vision to ‘be the leading company in the space for Educational Services created in the Post-WTO, Post-Internet continually flattening world.
A Ph.D. in Computational Physics and with a professional degree in Law, Prof. Pant has been a practitioner in the fields of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation. Prof. Pant is a former Pro-Vice-Chancellor IGNOU. He has been on the faculty of IIT, Kanpur, NIT, Allahabad and Visiting Professor in University of Western Ontario, Canada. He has been a visiting scientist to research centers in Italy, England. Germany, and Sweden and has delivered invited talks in recent years at International fora at Botswana, Durban, and Paris, Singapore. Melbourne, Mauritius etc. He has about a hundred papers published in reputed International Journals and presented in Conferences.
Prof. Pant has been associated with many educational organizations as members of committees or working groups, such as the NCTE, NCERT, CBSE, NIOS, NIEPA, CEC, UGC, AICTE, AIMA and several Universities. He has been closely linked with the IIT system, having got his Ph.D from IIT, Roorkee, having been a faculty member at IIT, Kanpur and a member of the Board of Governors at IIT, Delhi.
Drawing upon his experience in world class International Institutions and having taught in various modes of face-to-face, distance learning and technology enhanced training with over 40 years of experience, Prof. Pant is now exploring the nature of Institutions which will be successors to the IITs, the IIMs which were designed as premier exclusive organizations and the later Open Universities, to meet the challenges of an inclusive education of high quality. He is also exploring the change in nature of the traditional lecture in the class-room to a collaborative conversation between the teacher and learner(s) using multiple modes including blogging, wikis, podcasting and social networking tools, an experience which is being called classroom 2.0 based on the web 2.0 technologies.
His personal commitment is to improve education, including teacher training building on his experimentation with Mastery learning through Keller Plan while at IIT, Kanpur and mass based e-learning at IGNOU to create a blended learning model for life-span education.
Sanjay Malaviya – Chief Executive Officer
Sanjay Malaviya, the Chief Executive & Director of Planet EDU, comes with over 22 years of hands-on experience in the services industry, with specialization in the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conferences & Exhibitions), IT and Educational services businesses.
With specialized skills in Computer based systems analysis, Project design, Testing and Implementation, he is the architect of Planet EDUs proprietary products, “ExtraLearn- learning facilitation system” , “ExtraBack - educational back office solution”, which has serviced over 500,000 students in the last 5 years with an average support to over 150,000 students annually.
As the Chief Executive of Planet EDU, Sanjay provides leadership, management and operations expertise on the overall functioning of the company with excellent man management skills and specialization in international networking. He also takes responsibilities of the strategic international business development for Planet EDU and has successfully taken the company from the start to managing businesses worth about 12.5 million GBP annually.
D C Pant – Advisor Examination Services
Mr. D C Pant has been in the ‘businesses of Education for the past 50 years. Commencing the innings as a Lecturer in Post Graduate College followed by an overseas assignment as Education Officer in Tanzania, landed in University administration of a State University, a Central University and an Open University as Controller of Examinations, Finance Officer, Registrar, Advisor and finally as a Pro Vice Chancellor (two terms).
He has held membership of Professional and Academic bodies of a number of Educational Institutions – some of which are continuing still. At National as well as International level he was responsible for innovative approaches in Management and administration of Universities besides introducing ‘Computer Culture’ in conduct of examination and assessment of over a million students per year.
Mr. Pant is well conversant with English, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati and Kiswahili and has been to London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, Oman, Kuwait, Lagos on official assignments besides touring Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania extensively.
Payal Mathur – Head International Qualifications and English Language Solutions
Payal Mathur, is a professional with a blend of Academics and Management, primarily an English Language Teaching professional with a post graduate qualification in Teaching of English. Mrs. Mathur has been associated with the University of Cambridge – ESOL Examinations, UK, as Team Leader, Examiner and Assessor in the areas of General English, English for Academic Purposes, Business English. English for Specific Purposes and English Teaching qualifications.
She has served IDP: IELTS Australia, as the Examiner Support Coordinator (ESC) for Africa, Middle East, South Asia and Europe for the IELTS Test, which is a very coveted academic role in the fraternity.
Payal Mathur has been in a senior management position at Planet EDU and part of the Strategic Group of the company. At Planet EDU she has been the Coordinator – India and Nepal of Learner Recruitment services for over 100 universities and institutions, a project that was managed for IDP Education.
Currently, as the Head of International Qualifications and English Language Solutions, at Planet EDU, she is responsible for the business for India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The role covers academic management, supervision and assessment of English language proficiency courses, Professional Development Programmes for teachers and trainers, Employability Skills, Soft Skills and higher education qualifications in the area of Business Management.
She works as an Internal Verifier and Master Trainer for Scottish Qualifications Authority, Scotland's national accrediting and awarding body, a ‘Team Leader’ for University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and is the South East Asia Head for Qualifications and Assessments International, UK's private, international awarding and assessment body.
With her vast experience in academics and management and her understanding of the fast changing teaching- learning space, she is committed to providing a blend of solutions for learners, teachers, trainers and schools.