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About us - Beyond 8

Learners at Beyond 8 co-design flexible pathways that lead to purposeful education and successful entry into top colleges in India and abroad.

Our Story

Beyond 8 grew out of decades of reimagining education at HLC International, one of India’s first Ashoka Changemaker Schools. What began as experiments in inclusion and learner voice has today become a thriving alternative to high school, where every teenager can design their own future.

Here, learning is not a race but a journey of agency, curiosity, and belonging. Our co-founders, Naveen and Raaji, shaped Beyond 8 to blend accredited academics with mentorship, internships, and real-world projects, so teens graduate confident, purposeful, and ready to thrive anywhere in the world.

At Beyond 8, we believe learning is learner-determined, and that every young person deserves the freedom, guidance & community to dream, dare, and do.

Our Founders

Meet our Founders

Beyond8 Team Member

Naveen Mahesh

CoFounder

Naveen has spent over two decades reimagining education at scale. As Director and Managing Trustee of HLC, India’s first Ashoka Changemaker School, and Founder of Beyond 8, India’s pioneering learner-designed alternative to high school, he has led innovations that blend mentoring, internships, and accredited pathways for ambitious teens. Recognised for building models that inspire policy and practice, Naveen’s work has reached millions — from inclusive classrooms at HLC to NalandaWay’s programs for 10 million government school children. He has completed advanced programs at Harvard Business School and IIM, and is a social scholar at The Leadership Consortium under Harvard Prof. Frances Frei, bringing global expertise with deep local commitment. He also spearheaded Beyond 8 as it became one among the Founding Fifty for Responsible AI in Learning (RAIL). He has launched multiple social initiatives, serves on NGO boards, and currently leads as Vice President of the Tamil Nadu Association of Cambridge Schools. Honoured as an “Uncommon Leader” by the Madras Management Association, Naveen is recognised as a heutagogy expert and is driven by one purpose: helping every learner design a future with confidence and joy.
Beyond8 Team Member

Raaji Naveen

CoFounder

Raaji Naveen is a trustee and thought enabler at HLC International—India’s first Ashoka Changemaker School—and co-founder of Beyond 8, the country’s pioneering learner-designed alternative to high school. A former business analyst and product manager with global MNCs in the US, she entered education two decades ago and has since been at the forefront of shaping HLC’s philosophical identity and Beyond 8’s heutagogical model. Harvard-educated and recognised as a heutagogy expert, Raaji is known for cultivating cultures of purpose, mentoring leaders, and enabling teams to translate vision into practice. As a learner, ideator, and social entrepreneur, she focuses on strategic, evidence-based redesign—guided by her mantra of Listening to the Learner’s Voice. Her initiatives—from Karthavyam in public problem-solving and Elina in inclusion, to Militvaa, Kognify, and Explorers—have served as living laboratories of social innovation. She has been named an Uncommon Leader by the Madras Management Association, recognised as a Purple Squirrel in a Harvard Strategy program, serves as Ambassador for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is among the Founding Fifty for Responsible AI in Learning (RAIL), and is a board member of Inidhu Education Trust.

VISION

To set the benchmark for hyper-personalised high school Program in India — where every teen co-designs a joyful, rigorous path with a mentor, learns through real work, and progresses college-ready and life-confident.

Our vision is for every learner to design a joyful and rigorous pathway that leads to confidence in life and readiness for college.

MISSION

Learners should learn with freedom and fun, explore multiple interests, and in ways that prepare them for fulfilling lives, not just careers. Our hope is that through this wide exposure learners get a glimpse into the many directions in which their lives can go and have the opportunity to be excited by the diversity of choices they have.

Our mission is to give every learner the freedom and fun to explore widely and prepare for a fulfilling life.

The Tribe Behind Beyond 8 The mentors, makers, and enablers who shape learner-designed futures.

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Beyond 8

Learner-Designed Futures — Hyper-personalised pathways to global colleges and fulfilling lives.

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