Padmaja Buddharaju

State President, Andhra Pradesh EduTech Council

A Design Thinker, STEAM Educator, and advocate of Inquiry-Based and Experiential Learning, she is a passionate evangelist of 21st-century skills in the K-12 education space. Her journey into education has been equally a journey of self-discovery—one that reshaped her thinking, problem-solving abilities, and approach to learning through lived, experiential practice. This personal transformation reinforced her belief that when design thinking and experiential learning are introduced early, they become an integral part of a student’s mindset and DNA.

Driven by this conviction, she works at the intersection of STEAM, Design Thinking, and human-centered learning to prepare learners for the complexities of a rapidly evolving world. She collaborates closely with school leaders to emphasize the importance of nurturing problem-solving, digital literacy, life skills, and leadership competencies, enabling schools to create future-ready learning ecosystems.

Recognizing teachers as the cornerstone of meaningful education, she actively supports and mentors educators in adopting integrated STEAM and experiential learning practices, empowering them to evolve as 21st-century facilitators. An experiential learner herself, she brings hands-on expertise gained through CREYA Learning, embracing learning by doing rather than formal titles. Every interaction with students and teachers becomes a shared learning journey—one she believes may be a small drop, but one capable of creating an ocean of change for every child and educator it touches.