Physician · Educationist · Author · Speaker

Diagnosing and treating India's education system.

I am a doctor. My patient is the way India learns. Education is the strongest medicine a nation has — and it works only when it builds the whole person.

Vyaktinirmaan se rashtra nirmaan —
national development through individual development.

Dr Varun Murthy
0 of 48
STAR 30 students — from all 12 districts of Meghalaya — won medical seats in year one of the government programme he led
0+ years
Inside India's classrooms, edtech giants, and grassroots institutions
0 institutions
Founded — a foundation, a school, a youth movement, a NEET campus, a medical academy
About

Why a doctor walked into the classroom

India does not have an education problem. It has an education disease — and diseases need doctors, not spectators.

I trained as a physician at Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore, and have practised medicine since 2007. But the sickness I kept meeting in my patients — wasted potential, broken confidence, young people prepared for examinations but not for life — had its roots somewhere else: in how we educate.

So I took a clinician's discipline and walked into the classroom. Over fifteen years I have diagnosed and treated India's education system from inside it — leading academics at Byju's across dozens of institutions, teaching millions-strong audiences at Unacademy, founding and directing Noble International School, building the Rebuild India Foundation, and serving as Program Lead of Meghalaya's STAR 30, a state government programme carrying NEET success to students the system had written off.

"Symptom, diagnosis, prescription — the method that heals a patient can heal a system."

My prescription is simple to say and hard to do: vyaktinirmaan se rashtra nirmaan — national development through individual development. It is the one idea behind everything I have built: the Success Blueprint, my sixteen-point programme for multi-dimensional excellence; ARISE, the youth movement forming young Indians into capable, grounded, service-minded leaders; and the SIRI model of social innovation through which the Rebuild India movement builds schools, academies, and community programmes rooted in cooperative and collaborative national development.

Together, we will rebuild India.

In practice
  • Teaching a class, Bengaluru — Dr Varun Murthy
    Teaching a class, Bengaluru
  • Blood-sugar screening at a rural health camp — Dr Varun Murthy
    Blood-sugar screening at a rural health camp
  • Explaining a reading at the camp — Dr Varun Murthy
    Explaining a reading at the camp
  • Running the screening desk with student volunteers — Dr Varun Murthy
    Running the screening desk with student volunteers
2007 —
Physician — MBBS, KIMS Bangalore; clinical practice
2011 – 2015
Founder — School for Self-Mastery & Core-Concepts Learning Solutions
2014 – 2019
Head of Academics — Byju's
2017 – 2020
Founder — Shraddha Edutech
2020 – 2021
Senior NEET Professor — Unacademy
2021 — present
Founder & Secretary — Rebuild India Foundation · Director — Noble International School
2024 – 2026
Program Lead — Meghalaya STAR 30 (Government of Meghalaya NEET programme)
2025 — present
Founder — Dr Varun Exam Excellence (residential NEET campus)
2025 — present
Founder-Custodian — ARISE (the youth movement of the Rebuild India Foundation)
2026 — present
Founder — Rebuild India Medical Academy Pvt Ltd
The Work

The treatment plan — institutions I have built

A diagnosis without treatment is commentary. These are the institutions and programmes through which the prescription is delivered — each one a working answer to a specific failure in India's education system.

Foundation · 2021 – present

Rebuild India Foundation

The movement's home: education-centred community development through student development, parental empowerment, women's empowerment, and the SIRI model of social innovation. Founder & Secretary. rebuildindia.org.in

School · 2021 – present

Noble International School

Nursery to Grade 10, Bagalur, Bengaluru — whole-person schooling under the Rebuild India Foundation. Director. nisedu.in

Government programme · 2024 – 2026

Meghalaya STAR 30

The Government of Meghalaya's flagship NEET programme. First cohort (2024–25): 48 students selected from all 12 districts — 17 won medical seats. Second cohort of 36 underway. Program Lead.

Residential campus · 2025 – present

Dr Varun Exam Excellence

A residential NEET programme near Bengaluru built on disciplined routines, mentorship, and character — deep learning for the whole person. Founder. drvarunexamexcellence.com

Youth movement · 2025 – present

ARISE

The youth movement of the Rebuild India Foundation. Young Indians join clubs on their campuses, grow across body, mind, heart, character and spirit, serve their communities, and earn real opportunity — Learn · Serve · Earn. Founding clubs chartering now in Bengaluru; Charter Convocation, October 2026. Founder-Custodian. arise.net.in

Medical education · 2026 – present

Rebuild India Medical Academy

Building the pipeline of doctors India needs — medical education as nation-building. Founder.

Earlier ventures · 2011 – 2021

The road here

School for Self-Mastery · Core-Concepts Learning Solutions · Shraddha Edutech · Head of Academics, Byju's · Senior NEET Professor, Unacademy — a decade inside every layer of Indian education.

The institutions, in use
  • Lighting the lamp at Noble International School — Dr Varun Murthy
    Lighting the lamp at Noble International School
  • On the dais with the chief guest, under the school crest — Dr Varun Murthy
    On the dais with the chief guest, under the school crest
  • Honouring a student at the school Independence Day — Dr Varun Murthy
    Honouring a student at the school’s Independence Day
  • Inaugurating the Independence Day blood donation camp at NIS — Dr Varun Murthy
    Inaugurating the Independence Day blood donation camp at NIS
Writing

The argument, at length

Long-form, heavily sourced essays on enterprise, employment, trust and education — the reasoning behind the institutions I run, set out so it can be argued with.

Read all essays →

Books

Writing for the young Indian

Arjuna to You — book cover

Arjuna to You

The Bhagavad Gita for the Young Indian · Samskaara Sudha Series

Every young Indian stands where Arjuna stood — talented, torn, and paralysed at the moment that matters. This book carries the Gita's timeless counsel across the battlefield of modern life: exams, careers, doubt, duty, and the making of character.

Read on Kindle

Paperback & hardbound editions — coming soon via Notion Press

The Film We Cannot Stop — book cover

The Film We Cannot Stop

A Handbook of Clarity — forthcoming

Conscience, mind, and the happiness we spend our lives chasing. A handbook of clarity for a distracted age — in print soon.

Talks

Talks that treat the system, not the symptom

I speak at conferences, corporate forums, CSR summits, universities, and policy platforms on education-driven national development — always as a practitioner: the diagnosis comes from data, the prescription from institutions I run myself.

The Prescription India Ignored: Why Education Is Our Best Public-Health Investment

The flagship keynote. A physician's case notes on India's learning crisis — what is actually broken, what the evidence says, and the treatment plan that works from village classrooms to state policy. For CSR, policy, and corporate audiences.

Vyaktinirmaan se Rashtra Nirmaan: Building the Indian Who Builds India

Why nations are built one person at a time — and how the Success Blueprint's sixteen dimensions of excellence turn students into nation-builders. For education leaders, universities, and youth forums.

What a Government Programme Taught Me About Impossible Students

Inside Meghalaya STAR 30: how students the system had written off cracked India's toughest medical entrance exam — and what it proves about every "weak" student in the country. For funders, administrators, and educators.

On the platform
  • Guest of Honour address — 10th State Level Seminar, Transformation for the Nation — Dr Varun Murthy
    Guest of Honour address — 10th State Level Seminar, “Transformation for the Nation”
  • The same address — the hall, the dais, the title slide — Dr Varun Murthy
    The same address — the hall, the dais, the title slide
  • On the dais beside Sri T. Thimmegowda, IAS (Retd.) — Dr Varun Murthy
    On the dais beside Sri T. Thimmegowda, IAS (Retd.)
  • Releasing the seminar souvenir with the swamiji and Padma awardees — Dr Varun Murthy
    Releasing the seminar souvenir with the swamiji and Padma awardees
  • Lecturing a college audience, Bengaluru — Dr Varun Murthy
    Lecturing a college audience, Bengaluru
  • At the podium, mic in hand — Dr Varun Murthy
    At the podium, mic in hand

Book Dr Murthy to speak Download speaker one-pager

Media

Watch and listen

Television interviews, talks and podcast conversations — the same diagnosis, made out loud.

Interview · SumanTV Kannada

Macaulay's Minutes 1835: The Document That Changed India Forever

The 1835 Minute that redirected how a civilisation learns — and the assumptions it left behind in Indian classrooms.

Seminar address · Town Hall, Bengaluru

Vyakti Nirman Se Rashtra Nirman: Rebuilding India by Rebuilding the Individual

The address to the 10th National Seminar on Transformation for the Nation — why the nation is rebuilt one person at a time.

Podcast · #AskShivaKrishna

Why “If You Fail” Is Ruining an Entire Generation of Students

The fear economy around a student's anxieties — and the order that actually matters: food, activity, rest, then education.

All talks, interviews & podcasts →

Recognition

Recognition & coverage

Young Social Entrepreneur Award
National Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development (NFED) · 2023
Nation Builder Award
Rotary
Educational Excellence Award
Rotary
Social Impact Icon of India
Today Forum
Press

Meghalaya STAR 30

Government of Meghalaya's NEET coaching programme, led by Dr Murthy — covered by Syllad and confirmed on government portals.

Movement

Rebuild India Foundation & ARISE

Education-centred community development — Noble International School, RI Medical Academy, and grassroots programmes across student development, parental empowerment, and women's empowerment — with ARISE as its youth movement. rebuildindia.org.in

Framework

The Success Blueprint

Dr Murthy's sixteen-point programme for multi-dimensional excellence — the person-building engine behind vyaktinirmaan se rashtra nirmaan.

Framework

The SIRI Model

Dr Murthy's model of social innovation for rural and urban India — the community-building method behind the Rebuild India Foundation's schools, academies, and empowerment programmes.

The Prescription

Monthly notes on rebuilding India through education

One idea, one diagnosis, one working prescription from the field — in your inbox once a month. No spam, no forwarding, unsubscribe anytime.

Contact

Invite me to your stage

For keynote invitations, panels, podcasts, media, and collaborations in education-driven national development.