A Word from the Principal

Hello. I’m Misbah Mansuri.

Co-Founder of PrashiXan.
Principal at Marvellous Journeys.
Owner of MisbAh!
Primary school teacher.
Single mother.
Survivor.
Builder.

But none of those titles came easily.

I was born in Karjat, a small, sleepy town where curiosity had to fight for air. Some of my childhood was spent in Bahrain, where my father worked. I learned early what it meant to live between cultures, between expectations, between who you are and who you are supposed to be.

After my 10th standard, I moved to Pune. And something changed.

This city, often called the Oxford of the East, opened its arms in quiet, dignified ways. It carries a powerful lineage. It is where Savitribai Phule opened the first school for girls in India. Where Lokmanya Tilak laid the foundations of modern education. Where SNDT Women’s University, my alma mater, gave women like me a space to begin again.

I did not step into education because of legacy. I stepped into it because I was out of options.

When I became a single mother, the world suddenly turned cold. The same people who once smiled began offering polite warnings. I was told to lower my sights, to accept a quieter life, to be realistic. There was no safety net. So I built one myself.

I enrolled in a Teachers’ Training Course at the age of 34 (and later in a B.Ed course at 37). I was the oldest student in the batch, and yet, I worked hard to come out as the first ranker. I was recovering from partial facial paralysis. I was working 18 hours a day, teaching by day and running a tiny arts and crafts business by night, making terrariums and hand-crafted gifts just to keep the lights on.

Some schools gave me grace. Others gave me grief. I was undermined, overlooked, and in some spaces, bullied. But I kept showing up. For my daughter. For my students. For the version of me who had once felt invisible in every room.

PrashiXan was not born out of ambition. It was born out of defiance. Out of gentleness. Out of the stubborn belief that education must be human first and everything else later.

To Teachers

If you are a teacher reading this, I want to say something very simple. I see you.

I know what it is like to walk into a staffroom and feel like your presence does not matter. I know how it feels to give everything you have and be met with silence. I know what it means to be exhausted but still show up, because the children are waiting.

At PrashiXan, we work with schools, not around them. We offer professional development, yes, but also emotional scaffolding. We give you tools to manage the classroom, to engage students, to speak with parents. But more than anything, we give you room to breathe.

Because the best teachers are not just trained. They are cared for.

To Parents

If you are here wondering whether this is right for your child, I honour that search.

I know how hard parenting is today. You want your child to be confident but not arrogant. Curious but grounded. Articulate but kind. You want screen time to be meaningful. You want their learning to be joyful, not just efficient.

Our programme is not about making your child win. It is about making them whole.

We focus on imagination, critical thinking, emotional awareness, and voice. There are no tests. No grades. No comparisons. Just small groups of children learning to express themselves, one story, one question, one insight at a time.

We are not replacing school. We are supplementing childhood.

To Children

If you are here, maybe sitting beside your mum or dad, I want to say this directly to you.

You matter. Not just when you get full marks. Not just when you sit still. Not just when you behave.

You matter when you ask strange questions. When you doodle instead of writing. When you try to explain a feeling and do not have the words yet.

At PrashiXan, you do not have to be perfect. You just have to be present.

We will help you ask better questions, tell your stories, listen to others, and speak up when something feels unfair. You will laugh, imagine, draw, reflect. And most importantly, you will learn to understand yourself a little better.

That is where confidence really begins.

Why I Built This

PrashiXan is not a startup or a side project. It is the shape my survival has taken. It is what happens when a woman is pushed to the edge and instead of falling, she builds a bridge.

It is for the child I once was. For the teacher I became. For the mother I still am. And for everyone who has ever wondered if their voice is too small to matter.

Education is not just preparation for school. It is preparation for life, for empathy, for decision-making, for resilience, for joy.