Background: Academic resilience is a vital quality that enables students to withstand pressure, recover from setbacks, and remain committed to their learning journeys.

Purpose: This study explored the resilience of prospective teachers in Western Odisha. It also focuses on how demographic factors such as age, gender, and locality impact the academic resilience of prospective teachers.

Methods: A total of 524 prospective teachers were randomly sampled from different teacher education institutions in Western Odisha using simple random sampling. A descriptive survey design and a quantitative method were adopted to collect data using a standardized Academic Resilience Scale. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent sample t test. The research revealed that resilience emerges not only as a personal strength but also as a response shaped by social and contextual conditions.

Results: The findings suggest that most future teachers display moderate to high levels of resilience, managing academic demands while navigating stress and uncertainty. Age and gender did not significantly influence resilience levels. However, students from urban backgrounds showed greater resilience compared to their rural counterparts.

Conclusions: Based on these findings, this study suggests the importance of developing resilience in teacher education programs, especially in rural communities, through peer support, mentors, and socio-emotional learning. On the other hand, teacher education can contribute not only to academically competent teachers but also to emotionally strong teachers, who can facilitate successive generations to evolve, change, adapt, and thrive during learning and life.