Archana Mehendale is a social worker by training and has earned her PhD (Social Sciences) from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, India. She has over twenty-five years of experience working in academia as well as non-governmental organisations, primarily in India and briefly in the US. Her research interests are education law and policy, inclusive education, and child rights. She was a Member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Committee set up by the Government of India to frame the Right to Education bill in 2005. Archana has earlier worked with the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru and Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She divides her time between US and India.