Scientific education
Chavan completed his MSc in Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry at the Institute of Science in 1978 and a PhD in Chemistry at Ohio State University in 1983. After visiting faculty work at Houston, he returned to Mumbai to research and teach chemistry.
From literacy work to Pratham
In 1989 he began adult-literacy work in Mumbai communities. A UNICEF-supported initiative led to the establishment of Pratham in 1995, with Chavan and Farida Lambay as co-founders and S. P. Godrej as founding chair.
Learning at scale
Pratham developed community pre-schools, remedial learning, Read India, vocational programmes and the Annual Status of Education Report. Chavan emphasised simple assessment, experimentation, volunteer participation and methods that could work across large systems.
Continuing influence
Chavan stepped down as Pratham's chief executive in 2015 but continued on its board and in educational experimentation. His work helped make children's actual learning outcomes central to public discussion.