Project overview
With more than 140 million students, India’s education system is one of the largest in the world. Close to 97 percent of children ages six to 14 are enrolled in India’s primary and secondary schools, yet students continue to receive low-quality and inconsistent education. On average, a typical student is at least two grades behind the expected level for their grade.
To address these challenges, we partner with states like Haryana to transform their schools. Haryana serves large numbers of students, and its leaders are eager to collaborate and commit to real change. Our work to improve Haryana’s student learning outcomes, leadership, teacher capabilities, and school system operations impacts more than 100,000 teachers and staff who serve more than two million students across 15,000 schools.
How it helps
Our work with Haryana began in 2014 when only an estimated 40 to 45 percent of students in the state were performing at grade-level competency levels.
We learned quickly that there are no shortcuts to improving a school system. It is critical to have coordinated interventions to achieve real change on a systemic level. Together with leaders in Haryana, we developed a clear vision for improved learning outcomes, and we engaged relevant state agencies to collaborate toward achieving this shared vision. We established clear goals, restructured and defined roles and responsibilities, and maintained consistent communications throughout the entire education ecosystem.
In partnership with Haryana’s chief minister and the department of school education, we significantly improved school performance in just a few years. An assessment conducted in 2018 showed that 65 percent of students in grades three, five, and seven met or exceeded competency goals. Our integrated approach has proven successful in Haryana as we continue to engage multiple stakeholders, foster innovation, and build organizational capacity. It is an approach we are now working to replicate across the country.
