How are young people in India thinking about their pathways and future lives? How ready are young people in India for further academic work, for work and for life? The answers unfortunately are not as positive as we thought. However, one India's largest non-Governmental Organzation's; Pratham is working to solve that, and it is well within our reach. Rukmini Banerji is Chief Executive Officer of Pratham Education Foundation - well known organization working on children's education in India. Trained as an economist in India, she was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and later earned her Ph. D at the University of Chicago. She returned to India in 1996 and has been with Pratham ever since. Rukmini has extensive experience in the field - working directly with rural and urban communities as well as in designing and implementing large scale partnerships with governments. She led Pratham’s research and assessment efforts including the well-known ASER initiative (Annual Status of Education Report) from 2005 to 2014. Originally from Bihar, Rukmini now is based in Delhi. She enjoys telling and writing stories for children. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx