Shifting Systems: Comprehensive and contextualized strategies for improving foundational learning in India

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In India, 55 percent of children cannot read and understand a simple text by age 10 ( World Bank, 2022). This learning crisis requires a huge national focus on foundational learning and systemic reform. The Indian government has been alive to this challenge and the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding & Numeracy) Bharat Mission in India together provide a robust framework for comprehensive reform to sustain long-term educational improvements and ensure that every child attains essential foundational skills for lifelong learning. The huge challenge of ensuring that all children achieve strong foundational skills by 2026 has spurred state governments to collaborate with reputed nonprofits focused on working at scale for program implementation and system strengthening.

Large-scale collaborations between governments and nonprofits are supporting system-led initiatives for improving FLN learning at scale. These partnerships are formalized through medium-term agreements of three to five years duration, a big departure from the earlier more short-term, delivery-focused arrangements. Effective education reforms are characterized by a systems-level approach that fosters collaboration across various layers of governance, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of service delivery (Brookings, 2022). While primary objective of these partnerships between governments and nonprofits is to improve students' FLN learning, there is an equally strong emphasis on strengthening government systems to ensure long-term sustainability and impact. This involves building institutional capacity, improving governance structures, and fostering accountability across all levels of the education system. At the heart of these efforts are coalitions of nonprofits working in collaboration with governments to provide expertise, resources, and on-ground support. Each state’s FLN program is co-created with government stakeholders, ensuring that the strategies and interventions are contextualized to meet the unique linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic needs of the region, which helps to ensure greater ownership and adoption of the new practices.

Increased funding for FLN through investments by strategic funders such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and some progressive domestic corporate houses is reinforcing these efforts. Such funders take a longer-term view of system change and support nonprofits that align with national goals and programs. Innovative financing models like Outcome Based Funding are further supporting system strengthening as part of foundational learning programs in India. LiftED, a Development Impact Bond, focussed on improving children’s foundational learning outcomes, takes a ‘systems change’ approach where systems strengthening indicators (SSI) have become an integral part of the measurement of success.

The NIPUN Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, is a good example of government-nonprofit collaboration for implementing high-quality FLN programs at scale. The state has over 110,000 primary schools, 450,000 teachers, and 4,500 teacher mentors and offers a challenging landscape for bringing about sustained improvement in teaching practices and student learning.

Language and Learning Foundation (LLF) and other nonprofits like Central Square Foundation, Vikramshila, Pratham, Room to Read, Peepul, etc., are playing a crucial role in supporting governments to achieve the ambitious goals of the FLN Mission. LLF is a system-focused and impact-driven organization dedicated to improving students’ foundational learning at scale. Our work with the government includes state-level technical support, district demonstration programs, and multilingual education (MLE) with a focus on equitable student learning. Some recent evaluation studies (Change Alliance, 2022 and Educational Initiatives, 2024) have shown that this collaborative work is leading to significant improvements in student learning outcomes and teaching practices, particularly for children at the bottom of the learning ladder.

This panel will explore the different facets of comprehensive FLN programming in India, emphasizing the role of government and nonprofit collaborations in large-scale implementation. Through detailed case studies, including Uttar Pradesh as a core example of system-level collaboration, the panel will discuss the challenges, successes, and early-stage outcomes of these partnerships. The case studies will also explain how digital innovations are enhancing efficiency and outcomes, e.g., data-driven platforms for monitoring progress and digital resources for teacher professional development. The first paper, “NIPUN Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh: Student Learning Enhancement and system change through large-scale Government and nonprofit collaboration”, explores how nonprofit-government partnerships have helped implement a structured pedagogy approach throughout the state with a newly created instructional design, children’s learning materials, daily lesson plans, teacher handbooks, blended teacher professional development programs, academic support and supervision and student assessments. The paper also examines the processes through which these academic reforms are being adopted at the district, sub-district, and school levels. The middle tier of educational administrators and teacher mentors will play a key role in sustaining these reforms. The second paper, “Bridging the Gaps: Targeted strategies for learning equity in foundational literacy and numeracy”, describes strategies included in the instructional design and training to support improvements in the learning of marginalized children within FLN programs. The paper undertakes a critical review of how these strategies of revision, reinforcement, and remedial learning for children who are not learning adequately are working on the ground and suggests measures that can be taken to further improve the learning of children in the lowest quartile. The third paper, “Aligning Incentives with Outcomes: Outcome-based financing (OBF) in India’s FLN programs”, draws on the Language and Learning Foundation’s experience with several OBF projects to illustrate how aligning financial incentives with educational outcomes can drive system-level improvements. OBF, despite some limitations, is beginning to become an important lever for large-scale improvements in student learning and system strengthening in India.

Together, these papers provide a comprehensive overview of India’s journey toward designing and implementing high-quality FLN programs and some systemic reforms in primary education. The papers are all authored by senior staff from Language and Learning Foundation, a nonprofit that collaborates with state governments in eight states to scale and enhance FLN initiatives. The panel will draw upon the rich expertise of the paper presenters as well as the global thought leaders on foundational learning serving as the chair and discussants. The panel’s deliberations on comprehensive FLN programming and system strengthening through government and nonprofit partnerships in India will have valuable lessons for other low and middle-income countries.

Sub Unit

• South Asia SIG

Organizer

• Shivakshi Rana, Language and Learning Foundation

Chair

• Asyia Kazmi, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Individual Presentations

• NIPUN Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh: Student Learning Enhancement and system change through large-scale Government and nonprofit collaboration - Shanmuga Sundaram, Department of Basic Education; BIDISHA BOSE, Language and Learning Foundation

• Bridging the Gaps: Targeted strategies for learning equity in foundational literacy and numeracy - Shivakshi Rana, Language and Learning Foundation

• Aligning Incentives with Outcomes: Outcome-based financing (OBF) in India’s FLN programs - Sana Masroor, Language and Learning Foundation

Discussants

• Daniel A Wagner, University of Pennsylvania

• Dhir Jhingran, Language and Learning Foundation