Dr. Chithra Krishnan Adiyodi retired from the Ministry of Education (MoE), Malaysia in 2020 and is currently active in social work related to education. She is the Vice President of the Education, Welfare and Research Foundation (EWRF) and is responsible to oversee the materials prepared for the organisation’s English for Junior (E4J) programme, which targets children from financially challenged families and who are weak in the language. Besides, she is also an advisor to Persatuan Penjana Impian Guru-Guru Malaysia (PPIGM), an association comprising preschool teachers. A staunch believer of equitable access to quality education, she guides the preschool teachers on teaching methodologies and strategies to enhance the learning experiences of the preschool students.

Her 33 years in the MoE spans a range of experiences beginning as an English language teacher in both primary and secondary schools. Then she was appointed as an Assistant Director in charge of Cluster Schools and was responsible in the Fully Residential and Excellent Schools Management Division, MoE. Later she wasrecruited as part of the team that prepared the High Performing Schools (HPS) and the Trust Schools concept papers, and she was a participant in the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) Lab for HPS.  Besides, she was also appointed as a trainer for ETeMS (English for Teaching Mathematics and Science) to train Mathematics and Science teachers. Her final placement was in English Language Teaching Centre, MoE. She was involved in the Professional Upskilling of English Language Teachers programme widely known as Pro-ELT to help English Language teachers achieve a minimum CEFR level C1. 

As in her professional career, Dr Chithra’s academic qualifications also mirror her interest in education and the overwhelming opportunity of working with different groups of children and adults. A Certificate in Teaching (English Language) gave her the opportunity of teaching students from the Chinese and Tamil vernacular primary schools. A Bachelor of Education (Teaching English as a Second Language/TESL) introduced her to secondary level students. Finally a Masters in Speech and Language Pathology and a Doctorate in Special Education strengthened her determination towards education specifically related to children with special needs.