Tara co-leads the World Bank’s Teachers Thematic Group. She was part of the core team of the World Development Report 2018, Learning to Realize Education’s Promise, and is currently leading South Asia’s regional flagship, Ready to Learn. Ready to Thrive. Tara also leads the World Bank’s longest-standing project in higher education, Technical Education Quality Improvement Project III (TEQIP III), and before that, TEQIP II. Previously, Tara worked with the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group, the Chief Economist’s Office for South Asia, and the Caribbean education team. Tara’s research focuses on the political economy of teacher labor markets and higher education. Prior to joining the World Bank in 2010, she was a post-doctoral scholar at Stanford’s Center for Education Policy and Analysis. Tara obtained her PhD from Stanford University, specializing in the economics of education. She also holds Masters degrees in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and Stanford University.
