User:Aatral Ashok Kumar/sandbox

Ashok Kumar (Born on June 5, 1970), famously known as Aatral Ashok Kumar, is an educationalist and a philanthropist who was recognized by Forbes India as “High Performing Human Asset–2020”. He is the Founder, Chairman & Managing Director of TIPS Group of Schools. Ashok has truly been the driving force for bringing the first IB World Schools to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He started Aatral Foundation, a non-profit organization with a commitment to enhance rural education. Ashok’s leadership skills and unique initiatives for revolutionizing the country’s education sector have earned him many prestigious awards and accolades, including Edupreneur of the year 2021 by the Centre for Educational Growth and Research, New Delhi; Visionary Leader of the Year 2021 by the Centre for Educational Growth and Research, New Delhi; and Indian Achiever’s Award of the year 2021 by the Indian Achievers Forum. TIPS also bagged the best international school award by Times Group for five consecutive years from 2017 to 2021.

Early Years
Aatral Ashok Kumar hails from Pudupalayam village in Kodumudi taluk, Erode District. His father Prof. R. Arumugam, taught mathematics at Govt. Arts College and mother Mrs. Soundram.K.S was a professor at Kongu Nadu Arts College who later became the Member of Parliament representing Tiruchengodu Constituency in 1991.

Aatral Ashok Kumar studied at the Mani High School, a government-aided school at Coimbatore. He earned a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore (Bharathiar University) with distinction in the year 1991. Ashok completed a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Science Engineering from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA (1991- 1992). He further pursued a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA during 1994-1996.

He started his career as a Technical Sales Analyst in the year 1992 for Xerox Corporation, USA and worked until 1996 and also worked as Business Development Manager for Intel Corporation, USA (1996-2001) and Regional Sales Manager for Microsoft Corporation, USA (2001–2004).

Personal Life
Aatral Ashok Kumar married Karunambika Kumar (Daughter of Dr. C. Saraswathi, Member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly representing Modakkurichi assembly constituency (2021), Erode district) and they have twin sons Ashwin Kumar and Nithin Kumar.

TIPS
First IB Primary School in Tamil Nadu, The Indian Public School, was set up in 2006 with a vision to create global citizens by embracing child-centered learning approach that promotes creative thinking and continuous learning. In 2022, the chain of schools spread across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka & Telangana offering a global learning environment to over 12,000 students. TIPS was certified by the University of Cambridge, UK, as an International Centre for child assessment and evaluation.

TIPS Global Institute was started in the year 2012, as a premier provider of higher education offering entrepreneurial and finance degrees.

TIPS School of Architecture was established in the year 2018, for passionate students to explore the profession of architecture and design and to offer diverse and limitless career possibilities in the field of Urban Design, Landscape Design, Interior Design, Furniture Design, Architectural Journalism, Photography and Set Design. During the same year, TIPS College of Arts and Science, affiliated to Bharathiar University, was started in Coimbatore amidst a vast lush green environment with world class facilities.

Globeducate group of schools
In 2017, Ashok’s educational Institutions expanded across 10 countries with over 60 schools evolving with a rebranding as Globeducate, a progressive platform nurturing young minds to be global citizens working towards shaping the world.

Beyond TIPS
Aatral Ashok Kumar, founded Amex Alloys Private Limited in 2004, a company that is committed to provide High Quality Castings using renewable solar and wind energy with environmental consciousness.

Charity
Aatral Foundation is a non profir organization started recently in the year 2021, with the vision of enhancing rural education and with the motto “People Welfare is our Welfare”. Aatral is working towards addressing the essential infrastructure and other immediate needs of government schools in Erode, Namakkal and Tirupur districts.

Honors & Awards
●	 High Performing Human Asset by Forbes India - 2020. ●	 Best International School Awards by The Times Group – 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021. ●	 Edupreneur of the year 2020 by the Centre for Educational Growth and Research, New Delhi. ●	Visionary Leader of the Year 2021 by the Centre for Educational Growth and Research, New Delhi. ●	 Indian Achiever’s Award of the year 2021 by the Indian Achievers Forum. ●	Lakshman Rao Kirloskar Award For "Best Foundry" of the year 2006 from Indian Institute of Foundrymen on 2nd February 2007 at 55th Indian Foundry congress, New Delhi. ●	Most Influential Young Leaders 2020-21 by Asia One (Pride of Asia chosen Consumers & Industry) Research by United Research Services Asia Africa Business & Social Forum 2021 ●	Service Excellence in Rural Education Improvement - Aatral Foundation by Times Education Icons 2021-22, Chennai ●	Best Service Award for Rural Education Development - Aatral Foundation by Pinnacle Awards 2021-Vikatan, Chennai

Other Associations
Ashok kumar is the Trustee of Sangamam trust, since 2022, that works on Crematorium Projects.