Jiss Mary Thomas

Jiss Mary Thomas is an education specialist with a deep commitment to transforming India’s education landscape. Over the past five years, she has worked across nine Indian states, engaging with diverse educational environments from rural and urban classrooms to government and innovative setups. This extensive experience, combined with her teaching background, has equipped her with a profound understanding of school systems, pedagogy, government operations, and policy implementation. She also brings expertise in instructional design and teacher professional development, further enhancing her impact in the field. In her current role as Officer of Learning & Innovations at Room to Read India, Jiss spearheads the strategic capture and dissemination of insights from the Scaling up Early Reading Intervention (SERI) project across six Indian states. She collaborates with cross-functional teams to document successful practices, identify bright spots and deviations, and share outcomes. Her work bridges the gap between planning and execution by producing learning briefs and reports for internal teams, governments, donors, and the broader educational ecosystem. Driven by a vision of an equitable education system, Jiss is passionate about ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has access to quality education and the opportunity to realize their full potential. She holds a Master of Arts in Education from Tata Institute of Social Sciences and a Bachelor of Elementary Education from Delhi University, which underpin her expertise and commitment to educational transformation.