Amreesh Chandra…Agent SDG

It was March 2022 when I first saw Amreesh Chandra in action, speaking about sustainability at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom. Little did I realize then that he was the same person I had encountered in childhood when we were both under the age of ten.

It took several encounters with Mr. Chandra to fully grasp his vision, scale, and sustainability plans for children, aiming to amplify the narrative from a grassroots rural perspective. Traditionally, climate change debates have followed a top-down approach, but Chandra is a trailblazer who applies a bottom-up approach, bringing rural India to the forefront of sustainability discussions.

To achieve this, he has already made strides by shifting containers to Gorakhpur and neighboring districts, establishing schools in these containers to accommodate more rural students. This initiative has garnered both national and international recognition, with SDG managers worldwide applauding his groundbreaking work.

Amreesh Chandra is a disruptor for good. As an educationist, one of his most significant initiatives is creating awareness among children and youth about the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals define a way of life that promotes growth and development, free from discrimination based on identity—whether caste, creed, or gender—and ensures sustainability for future generations.

In 2010, he attended an SDGs global conclave in New York, which allowed him to understand what global agencies and policymakers were doing. He has since emphasized that if people are made aware of the tools, knowledge, and guidance available at the school level, they can inspire sustainable impacts for the planet.

As the Executive Principal of St. Paul’s School (SPS), Gorakhpur, a school founded by his parents in the late 1970s, he designed a curriculum that integrates the SDGs into every aspect of students’ lives. At SPS, the walls and corners constantly remind students of the SDGs, with the goal of fostering a culture of sustainability, not just an academic understanding of it. Inspired by SPS, Gorakhpur University has also adopted measures to raise awareness about sustainability.

Thanks to the dedication of SPS staff, Amreesh has organized global-scale events in Gorakhpur, a city in eastern Uttar Pradesh—defying expectations that such events usually occur in cities like Amsterdam, London, or New York, or even in India’s major cities like Delhi or Mumbai. Gorakhpur is now poised to become a template for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), showing that children are not just agents of change but are themselves the change.

Amreesh also founded The Canvas, an initiative to raise awareness and mobilize students globally to take action on the SDGs through education and empowerment across high schools and universities. SPS has created a new educational model, where all employees’ children, regardless of their parents' positions, study as equals.

Amreesh Chandra is an effective communicator, motivator, and natural leader with high emotional intelligence. His remarkable ability to align people from all walks of life—lawyers, film stars, corporate leaders, environmentalists, politicians, journalists, and activists—ensures synergy and commitment to the SDGs. Through his organization, Chandra EduLinks (CEL), he enables individuals and corporations to integrate sustainable growth models into their operations.

For his unwavering commitment to the SDGs, Amreesh was honored with the title of "Freeman to the City of London," becoming the first Indian to receive this distinction.

Amreesh is deeply driven by his faith and guided by his close friend and mentor, Apostle Ankit Sajwan, founder of the FOLJ Church. He continues the legacy of his parents, Rev. Girish Chandra and Nirmala Marian Chandra, who founded SPS and have spent nearly 50 years working selflessly for the cause of education.

His wife, Preeti, is highly talented, and together they have two accomplished daughters—Sarah Muskan, a doctor in the US, and Khushi Ann, who is poised to carry forward the family legacy of service to humanity.

Amreesh could have pursued a highly lucrative career, but his ambitions extend beyond personal gains. He firmly believes that education can bridge the gap between knowledge and the implementation of the SDGs. His work has put Gorakhpur on the global SDG map as a sustainable model for change, and he envisions transforming Gorakhpur into the "Davos of Sustainability."

Amreesh Chandra’s determination, dedication, and focus on implementing SDGs at the grassroots level make him a clear example of passion for sustainability. His accomplishments in changing the rural narrative can be summed up with the words of the famous Hindi writer Dushyant Kumar:

"Kaun kehta hai asmaan mein suraakh nahi ho sakta, ek patthar toh tabiyat se uchhalo yaaro."

Sudhir Mishra

Guest Author The author is Founder and Managing Partner, Trust Legal.

Mihir Srivastava

Guest Author Mihir Srivastava, Journalist, Author & Artist