Pune, India : On August 3, 2025, Pune was witness to an inspiring wave of creativity, confidence, and community collaboration at the TED-Ed Student Talks 2025, hosted and mentored by Virendra Nirmalkar and Puja Talesara Bhandari. The event brought together over 80 participants, including student speakers, performers, guests, volunteers, and partners, for a full-day celebration of “Ideas Worth Spreading.“
Held with meticulous planning and immense heart, the TED-Ed event offered young students a global stage to speak on topics that matter to them. Their voices, ideas, and passions took center stage — demonstrating that leadership, innovation, and empathy start early.
32 Students, 32 Talks, Infinite Ideas
The event brought together 32 TED-Ed student speakers, each delivering a powerful 3 to 7-minute TED-style talk. This season was truly global in spirit, with a diverse mix of voices from around the world. Seventeen young changemakers came from Victorious Kidss Educare, Kharadi, while others joined in from Singapore, the USA, and Dubai. Their talks touched on meaningful and relatable themes like mental health, sustainability, artificial intelligence, music therapy, friendship, resilience, and digital addiction. More than just sharing information, these students opened their hearts and minds, offering thoughtful insights and original perspectives that left a lasting impression.
Speaker Highlights Include:
- Aarav Baloda Behind Every Word is a World
- Aarzu Ramawat Offscript
- Abhijit Tawri Is Your Screen Stealing Your Life?
- Agastya Dubey Are We Hypocrites?
- Amaya Gavalee Books: The Brain’s Best Friend!
- Apurvika Kumar The Invisible Price Tag of AI
- Arkaya Jaiswal React Mindfully, Respond Powerfully
- Ayan Bairagi Everyone Deserves a Digital Chance
- Ayansh Nikole When the Sky Started Helping Us
- Ayush Nayak You Are the Actor, Not the Character
- Darsh Meher Embracing Change: From Jet Lag to Joy
- Gargi Golande The Trap That Looks Like Fun
- Garv Bhandari Discover the Power of Friendship
- Kartiki Agarwal Dance & The Dinosaurs
- Keiyona Kulshrestha Melodies that Mend
- Kesho Singh Ahluwalia Escape Traffic Jams, Without Toast
- Khushi Bapna Jeans: The Real Drama Queen!
- Khyati Kapoor Music is My Best Friend
- Mir Salgar The Trap of Screen Addiction
- Myra Alvares Our World – Let’s Keep It Clean
- Nizaal Abdullah The Truth About Self-Care
- Pooja Wayal From Agarbatti To Aerospace
- Reet Shejul Is Your Brain Tricking You Everyday?
- Ritisha Mahamuni The Trap of “Tomorrow”
- Rohan Edlabadkar Mechanical Mangrove
- Shatakshee Barbade The Power of Movement
- Shreya Mondal The Mirror and the Silence
- Shreya Shejul Move to Feel, Not to Fit
- Swaraj Dharmadhikari Progress Over Perfection
- Tanvi Mishra Resilience Isn’t Magic — It’s Mindset
- Yashna Bhandari Is Loneliness Secretly Killing You?
- Yohan Rakibe AI For A Greener Tomorrow
Performances That Moved the Audience
Complementing the talks were 10 dynamic performances from music to dance, including standout appearances by:
- Avika Somanna
- Dhriti Pawar
- Nikhith Nallamalli
- Prashant Harnaval
- Purva Mali
- Shruti Sakore
- Siddharth Shukla
- Vaishnavi Mali
- Vinaya Kshirsagar
Honouring Special Guests
The event was graced by esteemed personalities who were felicitated on stage:
Chief Guests, Puja Talesara Bhandari & Saarada Ghosh,
Keynote Guests, Ira Ghosh & Vishal Shevle
Guest of honours, Reneesh Matthew, Amit Godse, Bijoy Pallissery, Dr. Anindita Chaudhuri, Navya Somanna
Their messages of encouragement reinforced the event’s mission to cultivate expressive, courageous, and thoughtful future leaders.
Book Launch: A Milestone
A special moment during the event was the launch of 32 personalized TED-Ed books — one for each student speaker and key guest — commemorating their TED journey and growth.
Community That Makes It Possible
Event execution was led by a dynamic hosting team of Shwetha Munegowda, Vasundhara Singh, Aarin Junagade, Aditi Nawale, Janhavi Bardale and Nehansh Kakonia,.
It was powered by dedicated volunteers, including:
Aisha Lobo, Akriti Nirmalkar, Deepa Yadav, Himaprava Panda, Kiran Bhorde, Mahesh Mohite, Manmath Markunde, Manoj Nailwal, Pradnya Mundhe, Rachel Prasangi, Shakil Shaikh, Shubham Jamnik, Sohail Khan, Swarali Patil, Utkarsh Kalinkar, Yash Parse and others.
Special thanks were extended to partner institutions whose support helped realize the vision:
Victorious Kidss Educares, Leadership Demystified, VSPEAK Institute, Anan Cohorts, Stay Featured, Ridaan Array, Rhythm Music Academy, Design Mediaa and Alari Nrityalaya.
A Note from the Mentors,
“Let’s raise a generation that doesn’t just seek applause, but dares to stand for something. Let’s build platforms, not pressure. Let’s create space, not scripts. Let’s nurture voices, not just vocabularies.”
— Puja Talesara Bhandari“That’s why TED-Ed Student Talks is so close to my heart. It’s not just a stage, it’s a space for students to explore who they are, what they think, and how they want to show up in the world.”
— Virendra Nirmalkar, Organizer & TED-Ed Facilitator