Project ISR- May 15, 2016

PROJECT ISR – NGO PRATHAM
PROJECT ISR
NGO PRATHAM
SUBMITTED BY:
RAVINDRA SINGH THAPA
ADMISSION NUMBER:
HPGD/JA15/0095
NAME OF CAUSE SUPPORTED:
EDUCATION FOR
UNDERPRIVILEGED KIDS
NGO:
PRATHAM
PROF. L.N. WELINGKAR
INSTITUE OF
MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT AND
RESEARCH, MUMBAI
YEAR OF SUBMISSION:
MAY 2016

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DECLARATION
I, Ravindra Singh Thapa, student of Prof. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management,
Development and Research, Mumbai, with admission number HPGD/ JA15/0095, hereby
declare that:
 I have completed this project ISR – Education for children, NGO: Pratham, in the
academic year 2016
 Additionally, I state that I have conducted due diligence for the research and all the
information submitted is therefore true and original to the best of my knowledge
 During the course of collating inputs for this project report, I had a chance to visit
Pratham NGO’s office in Mumbai (at Churchgate), having met Shri. xxx and they
have informed me that the NGO doesn’t issue any certificates for external
organizations
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

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Introduction Cover
Table of Contents
DECLARATION.......................................................................................................................0
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................3
Introduction to Social Challenge – Education for Underprivileged Kids.........................................4
Vital stats from National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) survey on education in India in
June 2015..................................................................................................................................5
Right To Education....................................................................................................................8
Prominent NGOS in same field...................................................................................................9
About Pratham NGO................................................................................................................17
Organization structure..............................................................................................................20
NOTEWORTHY INITIATIVES FROM PRATHAM................................................................23
THE PRATHAM IMPACT......................................................................................................32
Prominent Supporters for Pratham ............................................................................................33
Recent Newsworthy Announcements from the NGO..................................................................34
Recommendations for NGO to reach out and serve more people .................................................43
Bibliography / Webliography....................................................................................................45

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Executive Summary
India is home to the youngest demographic in the world and subsequently the need to
enhance the literacy rates of this age group (specifically between the ages of 4-16 years) has
risen tremendously. Despite significant investments from both public as well as the private
sector, a substantial swathe of the young demographic doesn’t have access to the necessary
resources that can increase and enhance their overall development. To help guide the growth
various non-governmental bodies have stepped into the fray to ensure
This project report offers a commentary about the work being conducted by various NGOs
in the country and shares detailed information on the working of Pratham NGO with the aim
of enhancing the quality of information for kids.
Pratham is one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India. Co-founded by
Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay in 1995, the NGO works towards the provision of
quality education to
underprivileged
children in India. One of
the first established in
Mumbai in 1994 to
provide pre-school
education to children in
slums, it now has
activities in 21 states of
India and has supporting
chapters in the United
States, UK, Germany
and UAE.
An innovative learning
organization created to
improve the quality of
education in India,
Pratham is one of the largest NGOs in the country.
The organization focuses on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions to address
gaps in the education system. Established in 1995 to provide education to children in the
slums of Mumbai, Pratham has grown both in scope and geographical coverage.

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Introduction to Social Challenge – Education for Underprivileged Kids
Setting the context
Honorable Prime Minister – Narendra Modi made a statement in April 2016 that every
government’s mission should be to focus on quality learning and outcomes rather than
school enrolment. This vision and declaration couldn’t have come in at a better time for
India’s young population.
With one of the youngest and largest population demographic globally, India is still beset
by serious challenges to its educational system. The country’s population has been
increasing at a rate faster than most other nations globally and there have been rapid
advancements in all fields.
And yet, even after 69 years have passed since its independence and education in modern
India is criticized for its emphasis on rote learning rather than on critical thinking,
comprehension and problem solving skillsets. Multiple researches and studies conducted at
different levels all indicate that serious attention and action is required to remediate the
undue attention being offered to rote learning, as well as the rat race, and poor teacher
training prevalent in most parts of the country.
There have been growing concerns about student learning outcomes, teacher training
standards, curriculum quality, efficacy of school management and assessment of learning
achievements. Due to a combination of many such challenges, quite a few children have to
drop out of school even before completing five years of primary education which has been
mandated as a universal right for children in India.
These children who drop out of school often learn little at a later stage in life and
consequently have to struggle throughout the remaining period of their lives as they fight
hard to make ends meet as well as to up their quality of living.

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Vital stats from National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) survey on education in
India in June 2015

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 There’s been a visible surge in the number of students who prefer to join private
schools than government ones with a decline of over 10% between 2008 and 2014
 The data further indicates the increasing rural-urban divide as only 31% of students
in urban location preferred government aided educational institutions versus a
whopping 72.3% of students in primary in rural areas in 2014
 At the upper primary levels, the overall number of students opting for government
aided schools dropped from close to 70% in 2008 to 66% in 2014.
 According to statistics released by NGO Pratham in its Annual Survey for Education
Report (ASER) for 2014, no more than 26% of children enrolled in class V, can do
division which is a drop of over 10% over the period 2010-2014
 Perhaps one of the most worrying aspects of this growing level of aspiration for
private schools and government colleges is that most of the children who opt for
private coaching would like to do so citing that traditional educational isn’t good
enough for them
 The trends point towards growing aspiration of both parents and children as they
look towards an illustrious career (brought about by high quality education) as the
stepping stone towards success
 Overall, with an impressive looking outlay of INR. 586,085Crores invested in just
primary education, governments have shown their priority in increasing participation
of students
 Unfortunately, the growing preference for private institutions doesn’t mean that the
quality of learning is increasing. Rather it indicates the sore need of enhancing the
overall standard of education.
Conclusion
Findings from The Better India – a news portal helping people do good by sharing inspiring
positive stories across the country indicate that almost 14lakh children in the country haven’t
had a chance to attend any school. More importantly, almost 29% of children in India drop out
of school before completing the minimum required five years of primary education.

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Most resources and research funded
from governmental agencies is directed
towards improving quantifiable factors
such as enrolment, dropout rates,
teacher-to-student ratios, etc. while not
enough has been done to examine the
quality of education given to India's
children. This signals the need to do
more in the field of primary education
The solution that Pratham NGO
envisions is to move the needle from
schooling to learning! With its core
experience in the education sector, the
NGO recognizes the critical need for
universal pre-school education for all
children so that they can make an
impact on the learning experience of
kids at the primary education level.
Learning reading, writing, and other
basic learning skills during primary
education is essential for a child's
success in higher education and
ensures a reduction in drop-out rates

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Right To Education
Understanding Right To Education (RTE) Act of Indian Constitution
Ensuring pre-primary education for all children whether they belong to families living above
the poverty line or underprivileged will play a pivotal role in laying a strong foundation for
the child’s intellectual, physical, moral and social development. It is for this need, the
government of India made a historic announcement with the passing of the Right To
Education Act in August 2009. This act offers all children between the ages of 6-14 years the
benefit of free and compulsory education under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents
the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right
to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school
which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
RTE makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class.
Accordingly it also specifies duties and responsibilities of appropriate governing bodies and
even parents in ensuring free and compulsory education. The act also makes provisions to
dictate the sharing of financial responsibilities between central and state governments.
Another highlight of the act is its vision to manage development of curriculum in consonance
with the values enshrined in the Constitution. This would ensure the all-round development
of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child
free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning.

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Prominent NGOS in same field
Education is widely regarded as the core pillar on which socio-economic development begins.
This is because it holds the potential of connecting people with opportunities that can
improve their livelihoods and thus enhance their standard of living.
In addition to the broad issued faced for primary education, quite a few distinct challenges
also beset higher education in India. In fact, a committee report on the status of
implementation of the RTE act in 2013 stated that almost 8.1million children across the
country in the age group of 6-14 years remain out of school and there is an unprecedented
shortage of over 0.5million qualified teachers in India.
Some of the top challenges for higher education in India includes:
 Finding the right/skilled faculty and resources
 Building the right infrastructure to offer and encourage meaningful research as well
as development projects
 Provide a greater equality of opportunity with more efforts directed towards education
of girl child (most of the higher school dropouts are girls)
According to UN data, India is home to the largest number of illiterate adults on the planet.
With a population of over 1.21 billion, India has 40% of its population below the age of 18
and is estimated to have 55% of its population under 20 by end of 2015. To secure India's
future, providing a better education to India's youth is imperative.
Quite a few Non-Governmental Organization have thus taken the mandate to further the cause
of offering life altering skills via education for underprivileged kids in the country. The
following pages will cover some of the most prominent NGOs from an India perspective
working to further the cause of education of underprivileged kids. It will also offer brief
insights on how global bodies like UNICEF and World Bank are also supporting the important
cause of education for all in the country.
‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or
her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be
liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from
pursuing and completing elementary education.
‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local
authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary
education by all children in the 6-14 age group.

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1) NGO- Literacy India
Website: http://www.literacyindia.org/
Origins: Set up in 1996 as an NGO, Literacy India works with the objective of empowering
underprivileged children and women by making them self-sufficient through education,
empowerment and employment. This is done through imparting basic education and through
exposing our students to a variety of vocational skills in performing arts, computer animation.
Mission: Literacy India is focused on bringing about a Qualitative change in the lives of
underprivileged children by giving a different meaning to education. We are looking at
transforming the education landscape by introducing innovative methods of education to give
children a wider canvas of exposure in a socio-cultural environment. It has created an
environment where the children are encouraged to develop their own personality.
Keeping in view the rising problems of population and unemployment, the root cause for which
is illiteracy and ignorance, Literacy India has taken on the task of creating awareness on the
importance of education for under privileged children and youth.
Literacy India is doing pioneering work experimenting with a totally new educational model.
This has been developed from a vision that underprivileged children should be provided an
opportunity and a platform to equip them with basic education and also to nurture and develop
their latent talents and skills in order to realize their maximum potential. Emphasis is on
providing education not in the typical classroom manner, but to give a child a wider canvas of
exposure in a socio-cultural environment.
Notable initiative: PATHSHALA
One of the first project started by Literacy India. It started with the non-formal education of 5
children and has today touched the lives of over 700 people from different age, social and
financial backgrounds. Pathshala follows an objective where in within 3 months to a year
student must get to read and write, we also provide counselling through which we streamline
the child in mainstream schools. Pathshala also helps students to cope with studies if they are
already in normal schooling. Under this project, the NGO has expanded the model used by the
National Literacy Mission & Pratham, which is showing great results.

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2) NGO- SMILE FOUNDATION
Website: http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/
Origins: Set up in 2002 as an NGO, Smile India was established by a group of young corporate
professionals as Smile Foundation to work with grassroots initiatives for effecting positive
changes in the lives of underprivileged children, their families and communities. The
foundation works as a catalyst in bringing sustainable change in the lives of underprivileged
children, youth and women, with a life-cycle approach of development.
Mission: Smile Foundation aims to empower underprivileged children, youth and women
through relevant education, innovative healthcare and market-focused livelihood programmes.
The foundation is spearheading the philosophy of SROI (Social Return on Investment) to
practice and promote good governance. They would like to link business competitiveness of
the corporate with social development initiatives; also to sensitize privileged children, youth
and citizens in general to promote Civic Driven Change.
Notable initiative: MISSION EDUCATION
At present, this flagship initiative of Smile Foundation is reaching out to 19,000 children
directly through 90 projects in 21 states across India. Mission Education is a national level
programme of Smile Foundation, which is committed to providing basic education and
healthcare to underprivileged children. Smile Foundation believes that whether one is
addressing healthcare, poverty, population control, unemployment or human rights, there's no
better place to start than in the corridors of education. Smile Foundation’s educational
initiatives include Pre-school [3-6 yrs], Non Formal Education [6-14 yrs non-school going],
Remedial Education [6-14 yrs school going] and Bridge Course [14-18 yrs drop-outs]. It works
for education for needy children who are under difficult circumstances, such as child labour,
children of poorest of the parents, children inflicted and affected with HIV/AIDS, street and
runaway children, children with rare disabilities, disaster struck children and slum children.
Special emphasis is given on girl education and women education, so that they and their
families get empowered.

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3) NGO- PLAN INDIA
Website: https://www.planindia.org/
Origins: Plan India, a member of Plan International Federation, is a nationally registered
independent child development organisation committed to creating a lasting impact in the lives
of vulnerable and excluded children, their families and communities. Plan began work in India
in 1979 and Plan India currently works in 13 states across 5,400 communities and has touched
the lives of over a million children.
Mission: Plan was founded in 1937 by British journalist John Langdon-Davies and refugee
worker Eric Muggeridge. Originally named 'Foster Parents Plan for Children in Spain', the aim
was to provide food, accommodation and education to children whose lives had been disrupted
by the Spanish Civil War. For over 35 years, Plan India and its partners have improved the lives
of millions of children by providing them access to protection, basic education, proper
healthcare, a healthy environment, livelihood opportunities and participation in decisions which
affect their lives.
Over the years, Plan and its partners have helped communities throughout India to support
themselves so that children have access to their rights including the right to:
 Protection
 Basic education
 Proper healthcare
 A healthy environment
 Livelihood opportunities
 Their participation in decisions making process which affect their lives
Notable initiative: MODEL SCHOOL PROGRAMME
The Model School Programme is being implemented in 117 primary and middle government
schools in Uttarakhand. Its primary aim is to strengthen primary government schools with a
focus on quality education. The approach is sustainable as the NGO is working with
government schools which will continue to be funded by the government after Plan withdraws.
By improving the quality of the schools (public institutions) they invariably touch the lives of
the most marginalised and poor children, especially girls, for whom it is the only school
available and affordable.

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4) NGO- SAVE THE CHILDREN
Website: https://www.savethechildren.in
Origins: NGO – Save the Children is India’s leading independent NGO and child rights
organisation. As of 2015, it works in 18 states in India. Save the Children was started by
Eglantyne Jebb more than a hundred years ago in 1919. Started in 2008 in India, and registered
as ‘Bal Raksha Bharat’, Save the Children has since changed lives of more than 6.1 million. In
2015, the NGO reached 13.47 lakh children and 1.39 lakh children and adults during
emergencies such as natural disaster or humanitarian crisis.
Mission: To inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children, and to achieve
immediate and lasting change in their lives. Save the Children has been helping children get a
happy childhood since 1919 and it’s the decades of experience in improving children’s lives
which has helped it to set our mission and have a vision – all for the betterment of children.
Notable initiative: EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION (ECCE)
Save the Children, with its experience across India sees working towards provision of Early
Childhood Care and Education as one of the best ’preventive strategies’ through preparedness
of children in the age group 3+ - 6 years with school readiness skills. It works with Anganwadi
staff and concerned government authorities to strengthen the pre-school education component
in AWCs. The NGO maps out-of-school children and ensure their enrolment into formal
schools in age-appropriate classes. They sensitize parents on importance of school education /
pre – school education and children’s right to education so that they send their children to
school / AWC. Currently in 9 states of India, Save the Children runs programmes to support
the education of the most disadvantaged children of India in different ways.
Save the Children believes that all children irrespective to their caste, language, gender, color,
religion, physical & learning abilities are able to learn and grow with their full potential if
provided with appropriate and vibrant learning and living environment. We make efforts for
creating such an environment in state run education institutions (schools and AWCs) so that
each and every child feels safe, secure and protected and realize his/her right to quality
education.

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5) NGO- VIDYA INDIA
Website: http://vidya-india.org/
Origins: Vidya is a non-profit NGO that specializes in the education and empowerment of less-
privileged children, youth and women through working with them at an individual level. Their
nationally-recognized programmes include schools, remedial education, computer training,
adult literacy, skills training, microfinance and social entrepreneurship. Founded in 1985 by
Ms. Rashmi Misra, it began with her teaching a class of five girls in her home on the campus
of IIT Delhi. VIDYA now offers programs in three major cities across India, in some of the
poorest neighborhoods of Delhi, Haryana, Mumbai and Bangalore.
Mission: VIDYA believes in an integrated approach to empowerment and education. Their
mission is to educate and empowering the less privileged through integrated methods and
initiating and implementing progressive social change. Vidya fortifies communities by helping
their most vulnerable members– their youth, women and children– and we design programs in
a way that empowering one empowers the other. The Vidya School has won the 2014-2015
British Council International School Award that puts them amongst the best schools in India!
Notable initiative: VIDYA SCHOOL IN GURGAON
This flagship program was founded on the principle that true education requires head, heart and
hand, and that less-privileged children should receive the same exposure and facilities available
at the country’s best schools. It is accredited to the CBSE syllabus, and its students achieve
grades that compete with some of the best schools in India. The schools expose them to ideas
that make them think about the world around them, and many of our students here have dreams
of social change and entrepreneurship. The NGO uses creative methods in its classrooms, and
incorporate a system of learning values and spreading knowledge to family members and their
communities. The Bal Vihar School, its first project, continues to enrich the community it
resides in. The children look forward to each day of learning, and no teacher has left since the
schools’ inception.

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6) NGO- TEACHFORINDIA
Website: http://www.teachforindia.org/
Origins: Teach For India is building a movement of leaders to solve the problem of educational
inequity in India. The NGO found its origins with the establishment of the Akanksha
Foundation in 2006 and it wanted to address the issue of educational inequity at scale. Today,
Teach For India has 1100 Fellows working relentlessly in the short-term to change the lives of
students in their classrooms and become leaders for change themselves. And the NGO has 1050
Alumni who are collectively fuelling the larger movement towards our vision.
Mission: While the day to day work of teaching children is of central importance, the NGO
believes in creating bright spots to push our sense of possibility, and to spread what we are
learning beyond Teach For India. In order to build a growing community of leaders, Teach For
India has developed a two-part theory of change.
In the short-term, through its Fellowship program, it provides an opportunity to India’s
brightest and most promising individuals, from the nation’s best universities and workplaces,
to serve as full-time teachers to children from low-income communities in some of the nation’s
most under-resourced schools. In the long-term, they engage these leaders, Alumni, and support
this growing community to advocate for change.
Notable initiative: MAYA
In November of 2014, Teach For India staged the Broadway-inspired musical Maya to over
10,000 people. Maya, however, was created to be much larger than a spectacular show. It was
envisioned to be a symbol of student leadership, and what an excellent education could look
like for all children.
The Maya Musical started as a journey of exploring student leadership. 30 children were taken
on a life-changing quest of self-discovery where they, like Princess Maya in the story,
embarked on a journey of discovering their values and their brightest light. Over 18 months,
the Maya children journeyed across the country, performed at conferences and public spaces,
practiced their values through acts of kindness and worked on a student-led project to spread
happiness in 100 ways through the arts.

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7) NGO CHILD RIGHTS AND YOU- CRY
Website: https://www.planindia.org/
Origins: Rippan Kapur, a young airline purser, was driven by the extraordinary dream to see a
day when no Indian child would be deprived of rights as basic as survival, participation,
protection and development. In 1979, he and his six friends started CRY with a modest funding
of Rs.50/- Uncharacteristically, given their backgrounds and motivations, they chose not to
found a grassroots-level implementing organisation working directly with and for
underprivileged children. They opted instead to make CRY a link between the millions of
Indians who could provide resources and thousands of dedicated people and organisations at
the grassroots-level who are struggling to function for lack of them.
Mission: The decision to become the "link" or enabling position has determined CRY's
strategic choices at every juncture - from the fundraising methods it employs, to the nature of
its relationship with the NGOs it partners. Over the course of the next 10 years, and to continue
to make children and their rights a priority, they have reiterated goals that CRY as an
organisation is committed to strive for. These include ensuring children in CRY-supported
projects have access to free and quality education, primary healthcare and are safe from
violence, abuse and exploitation.
Notable initiative: MISSION EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
Started in 2013, the CRY ‘Mission Education’ campaign is about ensuring a happy childhood
for 503,432 children across projects in India by upholding their right to an education. When a
child is able to go to school today, he or she sets off a cycle of positive change. An educated
child stays away from early marriage, avoids exploitation and becomes strong and independent.
As children grow, they are able to make better choices for themselves and influence the
communities they live in. This transforms their present life and ensures a secure future for them.
The CRY ‘Mission Education’ campaign is about ensuring a happy childhood for 503,432
children across our projects in India by upholding their right to an education.

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About Pratham NGO
Pratham is an innovative learning organization headquartered in Mumbai and was
created to improve the quality of education in India. As one of the largest non-
governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-
cost, and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system. It was
originally set up as Pratham Mumbai Education Institute, the NGO has grown to
realize its vision of ‘every child in school and learning well’.
True to its name, Pratham (which means first in Sanskrit), is the first major organization to
achieve lasting, wide-scale success in India's educational landscape. Pratham works with the
mission of 'Every Child in School and Learning Well.' The organization's broad goal is to
eliminate illiteracy from India and to break the cycle of poverty.
Key stats for the NGO
 Established in 1994 with a focus on urban areas
 Rural programs started in 2002
 Conducts path breaking work in 21 out of the 29 states with presence across more than
250 districts in the country
 Has positively impacted over 2.2million children with over 62,000 volunteers

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INTERESTING FACT
The key to Pratham’s success
The success witnessed by Pratham has been made possible due to the following policies and
strategies adopted by the organization.
1) Continued dedication to large-scale change- The mission to improve the quality of
education in India and ensure that all children not only attend but also thrive in school
is being accomplished by working in collaboration with the government, local
communities, parents, teachers, volunteers, and civil society members.
Pratham’s programmes aim to supplement rather than replace governmental efforts.
These programs are implemented on a large scale to not only reach as many children as
possible, but also to create an adoptable demonstration model for state governments.
2) A focus on innovation- Pratham's strategies reconfigure teaching methodologies, break
down traditional tactics, and challenges the current rote-learning mechanisms prevalent
in most schools in the country. The programmes are innovative and outcome-driven.
In its early days, Pratham developed innovative teaching-learning methods, materials,
and measurement methods. In 2005, they pioneered a nationwide survey of schooling
and learning that has had a major impact on national and international policy
discussions.
3) Reliance on Low-cost, replicable models- Pratham has worked to develop low-cost,
replicable models that can easily spread and be adopted by other organizations.
Thousands of volunteers work with Pratham to implement learning 'interventions' at the
grassroots level.
These volunteers are mobilized, trained, and monitored by the Pratham team. They are
also provided with teaching-learning material and books developed by Pratham. Not
only does this ensure more effective implementation of the programs, but it also helps
to build an infrastructure focused on providing quality education to children.
4) Driving factor for Programme results and accountability- All programmes are
designed to ensure that learning levels in schools and communities increase, education
reaches all children who are in school or unable to use school facilities, and youth gets
well trained for job opportunities.
PRATHAM BOOKS is one of the largest children’s story book publishers in India
It is also India’s only not for profit children’s book publisher!

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Testing tools are also developed by the Pratham team to check the learning levels of
children so as to determine the course of action best suited to each child and to assess
impact of our programs.
5) Recognition as a powerful voice in the education sector- Pratham's advocacy in the
education sector has become well recognized and regarded. The Annual Status of
Education Report (ASER) has become an important input in the education policies of
both the Central and State Governments with several State Governments using the
findings to help define their education programs each year.
It has also been significant in defining a qualitative agenda in education and is widely
acknowledged in government and policy circles inside and outside of India. Pratham
uses large scale demonstrations to advocate for change in government practice and
policy in order to reach as many students as possible. Their belief is that maximal
impact can be achieved through government initiatives supported by Pratham and
similar organizations.
6) Powered by a diverse team unified by a common goal - Pratham comprises of
development professionals, media professionals, corporate professionals, workers,
activists, PhDs, MBAs, CAs, civil servants, bankers, consultants, and anyone else who
brings their experiences, expertise, and perspectives to the organization.
What unifies them is the common goal of improving the future of our children and youth
and they are keen on bringing movers as well as shakers from all parts of the society.

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Organization structure
Pratham Education Foundation’s Board of Directors
Ajay G. Piramal (Chairman, Pratham Education Foundation), leads the
Piramal Group, a diversified conglomerate with a presence across 100
countries. He enabled the Group to evolve from a textile centric business
to a USD 2 billion conglomerate.
Arvind Sanger is the Founder and Managing Partner of Geosphere
Capital Management, a global long-short equity hedge fund focused on
natural resources and industrial companies around the world.
Dr. Atul Varadhachary is a Managing Partner at AlphaDev LLC.,
Houston's leading early-stage life sciences development company.
AlphaDev helps commercialize innovative technology originating in the
Texas Medical Center and elsewhere.
Dinyar (Dinny) Devitre is an international business executive who has
held leadership positions in the consumer products and banking industries
in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US. He is currently a Special Advisor
to General Atlantic Partners and is a member of the Board of Directors of
Altria Group, SABMiller, Markit, and The Western Union Company.
Dr. Madhav Chavan (President, Pratham Education Foundation) co
founded Pratham in 1995. A chemist by training, brings scientific rigor
and a belief in experimentation to his work at Pratham. Dr. Chavan has
spent over twenty years pioneering large-scale innovative programs in the
field of education in India.
Narayanan Vaghul is an Indian banker. He was awarded Padma Bhushan
in the Trade and Industry category in 2010. Appointed as Chairman and
Managing Director of the Bank of India in 1981, he became one of India's
youngest Chairman of a nationalised bank. In 1985, he was appointed as
Chairman of ICICI, the financial institution now known as ICICI Bank.
Mrs. Neerja Birla serves as a Director on the Aditya Birla Group
Companies. In addition, she is a Trustee of the Aditya Birla Centre for
Community Initiatives and Rural Development. Mrs. Birla also oversees
the Aditya Birla World Academy, a school in Mumbai.

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Pramit Jhaveri serves as the CEO at Citibank, N.A. India and Citi-India
Ltd. Mr. Jhaveri also serves as Managing Director and Head of India
Investment Banking at Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited.
Ramesh Mangaleswaran, a director of McKinsey & Company, is a
founding partner of offices in Chennai and Bangalore. He coleads the
Industrials and Operations Practice in India and Asia, and also leads the
Social Sector Practice in this region.
Rohiqa Mistry, a undergraduate degree in Politics. Her experience in the
education sector is not just limited to teaching but also includes the setting
up of schools for migrant labourers' children on various construction sites
in India. In addition, she has adopted and oversees the running of a
boarding school in Raigad, Maharastra which caters to 340 adivasi
children.
Dr Rukmini Banerji, (CEO, Pratham Education Foundation) has been
associated with Pratham since 1996. She has been a member of the
national leadership team of the organization since then. Until recently,
she was responsible for Pratham's programs and activities in several
major states in north India like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Sanjay Nayar joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) in 2009 and
is CEO of KKR India. Prior to joining KKR, he served as CEO of
Citigroup's Indian and South Asian operations and as a member of
Citigroup's Management Committee and Asia Executive Operating
Committee.
Ms. Vibha Paul Rishi, Ms. Vibha Paul Rishi is an accomplished
marketing evangelist with international experience in spearheading
global marketing campaigns for high-visibility consumer products. She
has been on board of various companies which include Future Consumer
Enterprises Ltd, Entertainment Network (India) Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd.,
Escorts ltd., Tata Chemicals Limited, The Indian Hotels Company
Limited, PNB Metlife India Insurance Company Limited.

22
Vilas Gadkari, is a partner at Brevan Howard Asset Mgt LLP. He was
also the founding partner at Rubicon Fund Management LLP, a global
macro hedge fund. Before joining Rubicon, Mr Gadkari was the
Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of Salomon Brothers
Asset Management Ltd.
Vijay Goradia is the Founder and Chairman of the Vinmar Group,
Haverhill Chemicals and Lion Copolymer, a global distributor of
chemicals and polymers with headquarters in Houston, TX. He is also the
co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Pratham USA.
Apart from the Trustees and Board of Directors, Pratham is managed on a day to day basis by
an extremely eclectic group of staff members led by Rukmini Banerji – CEO of Pratham
Education Foundation. Additionally, Pratham seeks guidance from the Pratham Management
Council as well as Programme and State Heads for its various chapters spread across the
country.

23
NOTEWORTHY INITIATIVES FROM PRATHAM
NGO Pratham’s success in the field of education can be attributed to its pursue of low-cost
yet effective programs as they partner with other organizations and its large volunteer base.
The NGO has been actively promoting the following programmes in the last few years:
 Annual State of Education Report (ASER)
ASER Centre was established in 2008 as an autonomous assessment, survey, evaluation and
research unit within the Pratham network. Considered to be the largest non-governmental
household study to be conducted in rural India, ASER is facilitated by Pratham Education
Foundation. The study measures the enrolment status of children between 3-16 years and tests
basic reading and arithmetic abilities of children through a detailed process that uses a
common set of testing tools and a comprehensive sampling framework.
Local institutions powered by Pratham’s Educational Foundation conduct these surveys in
each rural district (which has a presence of Pratham NGO) over a period of 100 days
culminating into a comprehensive report issued in January every year. These findings are
disseminated amongst governmental and non-governmental bodies as well as media houses
across the country. Both the state and the central governments have found the report to be
extremely reliable in their research and consequently ASER has become an important factor
to be considered when formulating policies and education programmes year after year.
In the year 2013 alone, the ASER survey reached out to over 600,000 children spread over
16000 villages in 570 districts across the country. For this massive exercise, Pratham relied
on its huge volunteer base of over 25000 strong and from over 500 partner organizations,
educational institutions and DIETs.
ASER represents a simple, reliable, and scientific methods of sampling and assessment on a
large scale for high impact at a low cost. It has also been an excellent example of building local
participation at a national level and has allowed ordinary citizens to understand the current
status of elementary education. However, it is most significant for defining a qualitative

24
educational agenda and is widely used in government and policy circles both inside and outside
of India.
 READ India program
Even though India has taken significant strides to improve enrolment levels in schools, a large
percentage of children still lack essential skills related to learning. Representing Pratham’s
flagship program, READ India, aims to improve the reading, writing and basic arithmetic skills
of children between 6-14 years.
Read India was first launched in 2007 where the agenda was to leverage help from Pratham’s
volunteer base to ensure that the key learning skills are taught to children. The volunteers are
mobilized and trained by the Pratham team. Over the years, state governments have partnered
with Pratham to implement the Read India programme.
Objectives for Read India program
o All grade I children should know alphabets and numbers
o All grade II children should be able to read simple words and calculate simple sums
o All grades III to V children should be able to fluently read simple texts and solve
arithmetic problems
By 2008-09, the campaign had reached 33 million children across 19 states. It covered more
than half of the 6,00,000 villages in the country and mobilized over 4,50,000 volunteers.
Phase II of Read India was launched in 2009-10 to address higher grade-specific learning
competencies. The focus was shifted from short-term, large-scale campaigns to a longer, more
sustained presence in villages and was implemented through the Block Excellence Program

25
(BEP). A block consists of 100 villages where a variety of activities are conducted by local
Pratham staff.
Currently Read India is in Phase III, which was implemented in 2013. This phase is
characterized by demonstration of impact, model building and, working on a large scale in
states where there are government partnerships. In this phase, the Learning Camp model was
adopted. Combined Activities for Maximized Learning (CAMaL), is a pedagogy innovated by
Pratham that evolved as a result of hands-on experience in different locations and at various
stages of work.
 The Second Chance program
Started in 2011, the second chance program enables dropout students to resume their studies
with the option to complete their secondary education and thus acquire skills for employment.
It is a 15 month programme that targets young girls and women between the age of 16-25
years who have dropped out of school and helps them pass their Secondary School
Examination. The program also aims to raise awareness about educating girls and women so
that they can break the regressive barriers of caste and religion.
Studies show that close to 70% of students in India drop out before they reach grade 10. With
this in mind, the programme attempts to give "at risk" children in upper primary grades the
required help to stay in school.
Course format
The 15 month programme begins with a 6 month 'Foundation Course' followed by a five-day
residential training session at a hub centre during each of the remaining 9 months. Upon
completion of the Foundation Course, a final selection of students is made based on their
performance and keenness to continue with the course. Those students are then trained in all
subjects of the Secondary School Examination for 9 months through the Hub Centre facility.
This model is typically structured as a central Hub, linked to 4-5 spokes. The hub is residential
or non-residential center (depending on the need of the area) where qualified faculty members

26
are stationed. The faculty members are subject specialists and provide short intensive classes
to the students. The spokes cater to smaller clusters of 10 to 25 villages each.
Sai Prabhu Foundation has partnered with PRATHAM to extend financial support to eligible
girls and women enrolled in the 'Second Chance Programme'. Its motto of 'Empowering People,
Transforming Lives' works towards enabling people from disadvantaged backgrounds to access
opportunities in education and health that are otherwise not available to them.

27
 Digital Classrooms
Digital Classrooms/Learn, Out of the Box is a Pratham initiative in partnership with the
Vodafone Foundation, India, to enhance teaching and learning in low-income schools using
technology as the prime teaching tool. The project aims to bring a low-cost, digital learning
solution to 1000 low-income schools across 12 states of India, reaching over 50,000 children.
The project aims to impact economically disadvantaged children by reaching English and Hindi
medium government, government-aided, and NGO-run schools in rural, semi-urban and urban
localities. The subjects affected are Math and Science for grades 6 & 7.
Objectives of the programme
 To enrich the lesson planning and in-class experiences of teachers.
 To engage students by making learning fun.
 To enhance students' classroom experiences by diversifying learning activities.
 To improve student learning outcomes, both subject-specific and in a broader context.
 Implementing the programme
The programme aims to achieve its objectives by:
o Providing technology with curriculum-aligned learning content.
o Conducting holistic trainings that enable teachers to integrate the technology into their
classrooms.
o Providing ongoing technical and lesson planning support to teachers.
The Technology
The WebBox, designed by the Vodafone Group, is essentially a Smartphone repackaged as a
keyboard with a 600 MHz processor that runs on Android 2.1 OS. It includes AV cables that
plug into a television, which is a part of the hardware package provided to schools.
Additionally, it is Internet-enabled through a SIM card.

28

29
 Early Years Programme
Pratham's activities in the "early years" segment have stretched from the pre-school years to
the first two years in school. We see this age group as a continuum and one that deserves greater
focus in our education system.
The pre-school program as well as the activities conducted with children in the first two grades
in school have evolved over time and developed according to the needs of children and the
contexts in which they live. We have worked directly with children and families in
communities. We have also learned to work in different ways in partnership with governments
both in the pre-school years (via ICDS partnerships) and also with school systems for Grades
1 and 2.
The family is the first and the most important contributor to a child's development. In Pratham's
Early Years Program, we believe that it is essential to "reach out", to engage mothers in
supporting children's readiness for school as well as in developing a comprehensive
understanding of what the child needs to develop and grow well.
There are several smaller initiatives being undertaken under this broader program, viz:
 ASSESSMENT IN PRATHAM PRESCHOOLS- Visits, Observations & Interactive
Tasks
 REPORT CARD FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
 PROGRAM MODELS FOR EARLY YEARS
 REACHING OUT- ENGAGING MOTHERS IN CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT
 CREATING A PRINT-RICH ENVIRONMENT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

30
 Pratham Books
Pratham Books was set up as a not-for-profit children's book publisher in 2004 with the mission
to see 'a book in every child's hand'. The key objective was to publish good quality, affordable
story books in multiple Indian languages to support reading acquisition among children.
In the last decade, Pratham Books has published over 300 original titles in 18 Indian languages,
which total up to about 2000 books. The books cover a range of genres including early readers,
fiction, non-fiction, and storybooks on science, history, mathematics and nature. They have had
the distinction of working with many of the country's renowned authors and illustrators and
their books have won several awards as well.
Pratham has various other initiatives incorporated under the broader Pratham Books program
which includes:
 Story Weaver
It is an initiative from Pratham Books, which helps further the endeavour to find newer ways
to ensure that every child is able to discover the joy of reading. All the stories are available
under Creative Commons licenses which means that the stories are free to use and can be
translated into new languages, new stories can be created, and artworks can be freely accessed,
by anyone.
 Donate a Book
Donate-a-Book is a crowd funding initiative by Pratham Books to help bridge the gap between
those who want to help children read and those who need books for children. Together they
will build a Reading India by making storybooks accessible to thousands of children and spread
the joy of reading.
Pratham Books was founded with the mission of putting "a book in every child's hand". To this
end, we've spent a decade creating exciting, engaging stories for children, in Indian languages,
and creating access to them, all across the length and breadth of India.

31
 Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children
Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children (PCVC) started in Mumbai in 2001 as Pratham's
outreach programme for vulnerable children in disadvantaged communities.
For the first three years, the programme focused on the conditions of underaged children
working in Mumbai. Most of these children were trafficked from different parts of India and
brought into the city. During this period, the PCVC helped curtail child labour in Mumbai and
facilitated the formation of a Special Task Force under the Government of Maharashtra. This
has resulted in the rescue and rehabilitation of over 50,000 children in the city to date.
Subsequently, work began in the states where these children originally belonged. The
programme then began to address broader issues of child rights such as protection, education,
participation, and development.
Today, the PCVC is operational in 7 states and reaches close to 60,000 children annually in
urban and rural areas. Direct programmes include drop-in centers, educational support classes,
residential shelters, child rights desks, focused city-block interventions, and health and
disability initiatives. Additionally, the PCVC reaches about 1, 20,000 children annually through
child rights awareness sessions in schools, communities, and villages.
Objectives of the programme:
 Reach out and address the issues of all vulnerable children.
 Prevent children from entering the labor market.
 Withdraw child workers and other vulnerable children from work or other exploitative
situations.
 Prepare children to be integrated and sustained in formal schooling.
 Raise awareness on child rights issues.
 Advocacy with the Government.

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THE PRATHAM IMPACT
While implementing activities on a large scale, Pratham has simultaneously tried to collect
and analyze informative evidence. Given below are some of the key data points highlighting
Pratham’s impact on the cause of education for underprivileged in the country:
Progress-o-Meter For Year 2014-15
 Children Reached 7.7 million
 Youth Reached 15,000
 No. of Dropouts enrolled  4,600
 Number of States  21 States & Union Territories
This focus on data led Pratham to establish a research and evaluation unit in 2005 — the
ASER Centre. The ASER Centre has since been successful in shifting discussions at the
national, state, and local levels towards questions of outcomes and their corresponding data.
Apart from its flagship survey, The Annual Status of Education Report, the ASER Centre has
conducted annual assessments on the outcomes of Pratham's Read India programme since
2009. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has also extensively evaluated
Pratham's programmes through randomized controlled trials.
HT Paathshala: In a novel initiative, The Hindustan Times Newspaper started the HT
Paathshala CSR program in tandem with Pratham NGO to support the education of
underprivileged children. Over 60,000 lives have been impacted under various projects of
Paathshala since its launch in April, 2012. The volunteering program was initiated on 7 Dec
2015 with partner NGO’s to make volunteering more accessible for anyone who wanted to
devote time for children in need. So be it a donation, or a purposeful hour spent with
underprivileged children, small actions make a big difference. Pratham is the only Indian non-
profit organization to have been recognized internationally by multiple agencies for its
innovative and on-scale contributions (Kravis Prize, Skoll Award, and WISE Prize) and to be
recognized in India with multiple awards (CNN-IBN, Indian Express). Pratham has also been
supported by renowned international foundations for its work.

33
Prominent Supporters for Pratham
A pictorial depiction for some of the top brands supporting NGO PRATHAM in India.
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in
the United States with 170,000 agent locations worldwide. The Western Union Foundation
began in 2000 as a philanthropic organisation to facilitate charitable giving programmes
worldwide to enhance the quality of life for those most in need around the world. The Western
Union Company has supported Pratham Delhi since 2009.
Citigroup believes that educating the next generation is key to economic development. They
reach out to underprivileged children through primary education programmes implemented
in partnership with their NGO partners. Citigroup has teamed up with Pratham in eight Indian
cities to support the primary educational needs—with the aspiration of universalising primary
education—of underprivileged children in urban slums. Economically underprivileged
communities and slum pockets have been selected in each city. They support the community-
based programmes in Zakhira and school-based programmes in Karolbagh. Citigroup has
supported Pratham Delhi since 2005.

34
Recent Newsworthy Announcements from the NGO
NGO intervention sees rise in rural students bagging scholarship
The Hindu
There is an increase in the number of government school students from rural areas of the
district qualifying in the National Means and Merit Scholarship (NNMS) examination
conducted by the Centre.
This has been made possible by the efforts of volunteers of Pratham Mysore, an NGO,
working to improve the quality of education of children in government primary and secondary
schools through innovative means and using low cost teaching material.
Ashvini Ranjan of the organisation said in a release that in its maiden attempt in 2013-14, the
NGO coached 39 students from four government schools in urban areas of Mysuru. The
initiative was by volunteers trained by Pratham at no cost to the student and Padmini, retired
head of the department of education at Mysore University, was the driving force. The duration
of training was three months and the challenges included ensuring that the students attended
sessions without a break and with sufficient nourishment to be attentive in class, said Mr.
Ranjan. The efforts paid off when 14 of the 37 students coached qualified, he added. During
2014-15, 135 students from a different pool of eight schools, including four village schools
in Gundlupet, were coached of whom 25 students qualified for the scholarship and 10 among
them were from urban schools and 15 from Gundlupet, said Mr. Ranjan.
In 2015-16, Pratham coached 182 students of whom 37 students from rural areas qualified to
receive the scholarship. “While the top 10 ranks were bagged by students coached by Pratham,
there were four students from T. Narasipura and Umesharadya of Gundlupet secured 120 out
of 120,” said Mr. Ranjan pointing out that students from rural areas coming from socially and
economically weaker sections were second to none and all it required was a little hand holding
or proper guidance like their urban counterparts.
NNMS is a Union government scheme and a gateway for scholarship through competitive
examination for Class 8 students of government and government- aided schools. The scheme
is open to economically disadvantaged children with family income not exceeding Rs.1.5 lakh
annually. The selected students become eligible for a scholarship of Rs. 500 per month up to
Class 12. Pratham is spreading awareness of this examination in rural areas and coaching
them to ensure that more students qualify for it.
Why India needs a new education policy
India Today
The 1986 National Policy on Education, as reviewed in 1992, has been the guiding document
of the central government on the education sector for over two decades now. This was
preceded by the National Policy on Education, 1968, the first post-Independence articulation
of a national education policy. Indeed, even during the British period, the Wardha Education
Scheme (Nai Talim of Mahatma Gandhi) had in 1938 worked out a 'national policy' and had
recommended it for adoption by provincial governments. The CABE Committee's 1944

35
Report on 'Post-war plan for educational development in India' (the Sargent Plan), sought to
'Indianise' education, universalise primary education and improve overall quality.
The 1986-'92 policy, though robust in concept and orientation, has not delivered acceptable
outcomes in the education sector. Despite the stated priority and the launch of a plethora of
programmes, the state of education in the country remains a weak spot in society. Most
objectives and goals have not been realised, even partially, largely due to the absence of a
workable roadmap and continuing operational guidance. More significantly, heavy
politicisation at every level of operation from the village/block level, accompanied by ever-
increasing corruption, permeating every aspect of educational administration, have been the
prominent developments in the past three decades or so.
Education and public health are possibly the two most important development vectors in a
democracy. The reality over the past decades is that these have not received a fraction of the
importance and focus they deserve. The ground reality today, depressingly, is quite different
from what was envisaged in the policy pronouncement. While gross enrolment in schools as
also in higher education institutions has gone up sharply, these have been accompanied by
many undesirable new factors. Even as infrastructure facilities in the school system have
significantly improved, there has been little corresponding effect on the quality of instruction
or learning. On the contrary, repeated studies have indicated a worrisome decline in school
learning outcomes. The failure of government schools to provide education of minimal quality
has triggered large-scale entry of private or 'aided' schools, even in rural areas, but even these
have not produced significantly better outcomes. There has been a mushrooming of private
colleges and universities, most of them of indifferent quality, and many valid questions have
been raised about the quality of degrees generally obtained in the system. Despite significant
gains in respect of enrolment and access, new gnawing worries about quality are increasingly
being raised. The issue of an 'inclusive' educational system has also not been seriously
addressed.
The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT), the NGO Pratham
(ASER), as also a Gujarat state-sponsored programme, 'Gunotsav', have engaged in
assessment of learning levels and efficacy of policies over the past 15 years or so. Their recent
finds make depressing reading. For example, ASER 2014 found that 25 per cent in Class VIII
could not read texts meant for the Class II level; the number of children in rural schools in
Class II who could not even recognise the alphabet is up from 13.4 per cent in 2010 to 32.5
per cent in 2014. Reading levels for children in government schools show a sharp decline
from 2010 to 2012. Half of all children in Class V have not yet learned basic skills that they
should have acquired in Class II. And close to 50 per cent of children will finish eight years
of schooling without having learnt the basic skills of arithmetic. No further commentary is
required to stress the point that our education system is in serious distress, and requires urgent
reforms.
While the Right to Education (RTE) Act has led to significant increase in enrolment, as also
emphasis on infrastructure, new issues in the implementation phase have now arisen, which
need to be addressed. In particular, the 'No Detention Policy' needs to be revisited, to ensure
that it is optimally and judiciously implemented.

36
There is no clearly laid out policy in respect of private participation in the education system,
both at the school and higher education levels. While there is scope for differential treatment
of this issue in different states, the respective roles to be played by private and public players
is not defined. In theory, the system persists in reiterating the mantra that education is not a
'business', that the profit motive cannot be the guiding principle for an educational institution.
But, as in so many other walks of our public life, the reality is quite different from these
precepts. The exponential growth of higher education institutions in the past two decades has
been fuelled by the 'capitation fee' phenomenon, which thrives on black money and shadowy
financial transactions. It is also a fact that many of the so-called 'charitable educational trusts'
have a strong, direct financial motive, in most cases in close association with or with the
sponsorship of the political class. This phenomenon has made it extremely hard for serious
reforms to be attempted, let alone implemented.
The quality of academic research, overall engagement and accomplishments in the field of
research also leave much to be desired. Research and innovation are key to promoting a
dynamic and vibrant academic scene. There is an imperative need to address this critical area,
which can contribute so significantly to the economy.
In an aspirational society, parents naturally desire that their children get a 'good education'.
However, formally linking the development of skills in vocational fields, and bringing in an
academic equivalence to vocational accomplishments, has not been seriously attempted. This
also means that the avenue for horizontal and vertical mobility has not been provided in
adequate degree. Fostering dignity and social acceptability to quality vocational training are
important tasks demanding urgent attention.
A major new dimension is the advent of information and communication technology. New
technologies are now available for information dissemination, enhancement of skills and so
many other end-uses, but they are not yet suitably adopted or adapted to the needs of the
education sector. There is immense scope for harnessing technology to improve quality,
teacher preparation, aid to teachers in classrooms, remedial coaching-possibilities that have
not yet been seriously addressed. 'Big data' can be harnessed to track student-learning
outcomes, link teacher-performance to student learning as aid to assessment of teacher
quality, to track the progress of individual schools...the list is endless. Though technology has
taken rapid strides in India, astonishingly little has been tried out or adopted in Indian
conditions.
Fortunately, the Union ministry of HRD, in particular the HRD minister, has taken a major
initiative to revamp the education sector, and intends to soon declare a new education policy.
This is an extremely welcome move. It is hoped that the ministry's move will give a new
direction to the education sector, halt the precipitous decline in standards, and pave the way
for much better quality standards. Political will to raise educational standards, and eliminate
or minimise political intervention at all levels, could lead India to global standards in just one
generation. The stakes for the new policy are very high-India has the possibility to become
the leading country of the world for two-thirds of this century.
Pratham revamps ASER for deeper insights
The Business Standard

37
On a chilly morning last week, there were excited shouts of loading kar rahi hai (It's loading)
rising off a mat in Baljit Nagar, a garbage-strewn cluster of shanties near Anand Parbat
industrial area in West Delhi. Factory workers' children jabbed away at the screen of a Google
phone, trying to drag the requisite number of birds into a plane to make it fly. The maths-based
game was one of many on EkStep Genie, a meta-app with lots of gamified apps, developed by
software tycoon Nandan Nilekani's team. The smartphone belonged to Devyani Pershad, head
of programme management at Pratham, an education NGO, which is piloting the app across the
country. When Devyani took her phone back from the pupils, there was a collective sigh of
disappointment.
Two decades after it began instructional programmes for poor children with the slogan, "Every
child in school and learning well", and a decade after launching the Annual State of Education
Report (ASER), the country's biggest non-governmental audit of elementary education in rural
India, which is also the only annual national assessment of learning outcomes, Pratham is now
exploring new approaches.
If one aspect is a blossoming affair with technology - the use of smartphones, memory cards,
even text messages, to disseminate instructional material and to assess, another is an accelerated
push to get parents, neighbours, college students, panchayat members and mohallas to care
about learning outcomes. Third is a revamp of the widely-cited ASER, which has skipped a
year, and will now change its parameters. While it will continue to be a national assessment
carried out in homes, not at schools, ASER will focus, in rotation, on different age-groups of
children, and develop new assessment tools for sharper and deeper understanding of learning
levels. Secondary school students will be a priority in the coming years.
In the winter of 2015-2016, instead of being consumed by the mammoth task of collecting and
collating data for ASER, typically released at a function every January, Pratham had 2,000 full-
time staffers and thousands of volunteers, carrying both smartphones and pen and paper,
visiting over 160,000 villages to build awareness about the importance of raising childrens'
learning levels, as a part of a campaign called Lakhon Mein Ek.
They visited some urban clusters too, Anand Parbat being one. The buzz - short-lived or
otherwise - was discernable here last week, with semi-educated housewives and older children
pitching in, along with Pratham's volunteers, to conduct on-the-spot assessments, and help
children read and do maths.
Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham, and Wilima Wadhwa, director of the ASER centre, explain
that what is afoot is an effort to marry Pratham's well-honed techniques to boost literacy and
numeracy with the nation-wide sweep achieved by ASER. Every year, ASER reaches 577 rural
districts and reports depressingly low learning levels. For example, the 2005 finding that about
half of the children enrolled in standard 5 could not read a standard two text has remained
virtually unchanged. There has been only a marginal decline since 2010.
Increasingly, a standard response to ASER's reports has been, as Wadhwa humourously puts it,
"Got it! Now tell us, what next?" But ASER, she points out, is not designed to offer solutions -
it's like a thermometer. On the other hand, Pratham's work with about a million children, to
improve numeracy and literacy, has achieved sustained results, suggests independent
evaluation by MIT's Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

38
"ASER gave us the confidence that we can do things at scale. So we are asking ourselves, can
we create solutions at scale?" says Banerji. Mobilising at the village level, she stresses, is a
crucial step here. Even while ASER's data collectors have showed up in 16,000 villages
annually, the survey's findings have only been disseminated upwards, to influence policy, and
never downwards. It was a gap, says Banerji, because while poor parents don't need to be
convinced to admit their children to school (as evident from resoundingly high enrolment
figures) and are eager to pay for tuitions, they lack the information, the confidence, the tools,
even the conversational phrases, to engage with their children's learning. "Policy is a supply
push," says Wadhwa. "You also need a demand push. Parents have to demand better schools,
better levels of public service, more learning."
On February 1, at a meeting in Delhi, Pratham will review what it learnt from Lakhon Mein
Ek, and discuss future action plan. It is already clear, though, that ASER 2016 will survey
school children in the 10 to 16 age group, and not 5 to 16 as before. ASER's assessment
materials, currently of standard two level and below, will be redesigned, to test for higher level
competencies.
In focusing on the older group, ASER is following the government's shifting focus, from
universalization of elementary education to access to secondary education and retention of
students in secondary school (as set out in the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan).
However, it is also pursuing its concern that as children progress through secondary school, a
lack of foundational skills leads to a further accumulation of learning deficits, and contributes
to students dropping out of school. (At 6 to 14, three per cent of children are estimated to be
out of school, at 15 and 16, around 16 per cent.)
The policy of automatic promotion until grade eight introduced with the passage of the Right
to Education Act makes it all the more imperative, stresses Wadhwa, to study this age group.
"We know so little," she says, "about the watershed years when drop-outs increase, and whether
children who join the labour force after class eight have the skills to function as productive
persons?" Apart from testing academic competencies, ASER 2016 will also look at broader
capabilities, such as problem solving ability and capability for carrying out everyday
calculations.
Prof R Govinda, former Vice Chancellor of National University of Educational Planning and
Administration (NUEPA), now with the Council for Social Development, comments that such
a report may draw necessary attention to the worrying trend of massive grade inflation in board
exams. "If it shows that children are not learning well in these grades, it will raise the question
of how are they passing these exams in such larger numbers?" He agrees that Pratham needs to
move in new directions. ASER, he says, "has told a big, and important story, but the unchanging
learning levels, year after year, show that it has not been able to make a political impact. Over
the years, this Pratham Delhi trustee observes, "ASER has come to occupy a bigger space than
the work Pratham does for development, and that is something that needs to be corrected. But
he also wonders how much impact "scaling up" by NGOs can have, when their budgets are, all
said and told, a pittance compared to the government.
However, Wadhwa looks at it differently. "This is a very large elephant, we can't just say leave
it to government. Everyone has to contribute, including rural communities, which have to take
ownership of the problem.

39
PRATHAM'S GIANT LEAP
 Pratham works with a million children, to boost numeracy and literacy, and reaches another
six million indirectly, by training teacher
 Its flagship programme Read India, which aims to teach a child to read fluently and do basic
arithmetic in 50 days, has been found effective by MIT's Abdul Lateef Jameel Poverty
Action Lab
 Pratham's ASER is the only comprehensive year-on-year survey of children's learning
levels, covering 577 rural districts
 Learning levels have remained low over 10 years of ASER. Pratham now wants to deliver
solutions to the situation reported by ASER, using new technology and campaign
approaches
 There was no ASER survey in late 2015. Instead, Pratham launched the Lakhon Mein Ek
campaign to mobilise communities on learning levels. So far, 164,000 villages have been
visited
 ASER will be back in a revamped form this year, with new parameters and assessment tools.
It will look at different age groups in rotation, and secondary education will be an important
focus
 ASER 2016 will survey children in the 10-16 age group, instead of 5-16 previously
How Delhi Government Kept Students Cool This Summer
Exams Watch
The summer camp initiated by Delhi government ended with great enthusiasm. Students
actively participated in this summer camp for all round development of students. Started on
11th may, this event ended on 31st May. Around 45,000 students from more than 500 students
took part in the summer camps organized by Delhi government especially for state-run schools.
This summer camp idea of AAP government holds uniqueness as it was organized for the
government school students. The motive behind this movement is to improve knowledge of
students through fun activities. Students were taught trick of mathematics through games.
They were assigned to group activities for social work. Also, a scrapbook named ‘Hamari
Dilli’ is to be made in which happenings of Delhi would be mentioned through art that is
experienced by the students. It will be scrutinized by Delhi education department and the
winning poster will be published by Delhi government tourism department.
These camps worked on three themes- food, water, and waste. The students were being
explained these themes through fun activities like games and group activities. It aimed to help
students to fill the lacuna among peers and open their minds in all different directions.
Atishi Marlena, the adviser to deputy Chief Minister, said, “We wanted to choose themes
according to the need of students. A student should be able to relate these activities with their
daily life in Delhi. We kept these camps optional, but most school principals have agreed to
the idea and came forward to take up the lead.”
To make successful this event, 1500 teachers were trained for the one day. Also, the help from
the two NGOs was taken, Pratham and Saajha, which are specialized in the field of education.

40
These NGOs will give the insights of Delhi which will improve social nature of students.
Parents were also welcomed to watch their ward’s activity once in a week, as Saturday is kept
as ‘open day’.
The Skilling Revolution's Missing Link
Open Magazine
Anupama, like her eight siblings based in eastern Uttar Pradesh, could not afford to study
beyond school. She, however, did not want to follow the path trodden by her older sisters who
married 'eligible men' with 'stable jobs'. Her aspiration indeed included a 'stable job' — albeit
without the pre-condition of matrimony.
Anupama, who aspired to work and earn her own money, became the first girl from her small
village to join a vocational training institute and has gone on to become an electrician in
Noida. Unknowingly, what she also ended up also doing was setting in motion a bewildering
phenomenon of girls in the area aspiring to become electricians, resulting in a spurt of female-
enrolment in the training course that she had undertaken.
Women in the workforce
While sporadic incidents of girls defying stereotypes breakout every now and then and make
for brilliant case-studies, these continue to be anomalies with very little institutionalized effort
to make 'working-women', especially from rural India, a norm.
Despite an upward growth trajectory in terms of the economy as well as education, women's
participation rate in India has slipped from 37% to 27% between 2004 and 2015, positioning
us as one of the bottom-20 countries on this count.
Women stepping out to work, has always been viewed unfavorably in the rural-setting,
however a special exception had always been extended to farming — it's close to home, it
allows multi-tasking with domestic-chores and it reduces the work-load of the male members.
So while the overall plummet in agriculture-related jobs has impacted employment levels
overall, rural women remain worst affected.
The alternative employment opportunities that have sprung-up are in trades like
manufacturing and construction, based predominantly in urban areas. Youth in villages have
limited exposure and knowledge about the new opportunities, and women specifically no
longer have the physical accessibility to these jobs resulting in their withdrawal from the
workspace altogether.
Gendered occupations
In an attempt to be 'inclusive' of women, vocational training providers along with the
government's Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) often encourage women to enrol in 'women-
specific' courses like tailoring, mehendi-making and bag-making despite the limited job
opportunities these would yield compared to other male-dominated vocational courses.
To steer women towards better paying jobs in the organized sector, efforts need to be made
into breaking these stereotypes and not consolidating them. One look at any key website of
the government's SSCs prove that we are a long way to go — with not a single photograph of

41
female students on the official SSC websites on construction, automotive, iron and steel as
well as plumbing.
These photographs on websites and pictures on pamphlets aren't incidental; they are
symptomatic of the larger problem with the skilling efforts that are not just targeted to attract
men, but which usually also lack the capacity to include women who may be interested —
with factors ranging from the limited female staff in these training institutes, to the complete
absence of women's residential facilities. Expecting women to rise up in these fields, without
any prior precedent of success from their own villages is difficult already, but unless role
models for the overall industry are promoted, this task is seemingly impossible.
Moving forward
When Pratham started working in vocational training, getting women to attend a training
course was tough, but making them take up jobs post training was even tougher.
For instance, in 2012 when Pratham Institute started working in the naxal-affected region of
Gadchiroli in Eastern Maharashtra — from where we have now trained over 3,000 youth —
less than 10% of the enrolees were women. In an area with no prior example of even men
working in trades like hospitality, it was unrealistic to expect a sudden outflow of first
generation working-women migrants. The challenge was not just convincing the families of
these girls, but the girls themselves that they were capable of stepping into shoes that were
traditionally worn by men.
Four years later, over 50% of the enrolees from the region are women who are not just
relocating to cities, but also support a younger lot of women in taking up unconventional jobs.
The change, however, was not so easy and is far from over. A few key factors catalytic to
bringing about this transformation have included setting up of a local 'career-guidance center'
to involve the entire community, counselling session with parents who would help form
'groups' of girls to leave together to study and work, and just information dissemination
through awareness drives and employment camps (Rozgar Melas) with key village-leaders
like the Sarpanch, to build trust within the community.
Further, to maintain a continuous flow of women into vocational skilling, it is crucial to not
just ease the barriers to entry and create training-environments congenial to women, but also
to ensure strong support-mechanisms for women stay on in their jobs.
With most trainees in vocational training coming out of rural India and with jobs in the urban
areas, lifestyle transition and the pressure of the first-job are anyway hard, for both men and
women. The latter group, however, have added battles that they were hitherto not faced with
— the challenge of safety, struggles of finding accommodation alone amidst suspicious
landlords, and the realities of work-place harassment which are amplified for these women
who are anyway fighting all odds, and often with their own families, to prove their mettle.
Ensuring these women don't dropout and go back home with bad experiences is essential to
prevent resistance from the community and fear within women themselves, in working.
While Skill India and other initiatives aimed at 'training' youth will no doubt succeed in
increasing the skilled workforce. However, without end-to-end solutions aimed at addressing
the problems of mobilizing and of support mechanisms post-placement, women will continue

42
being isolated from this skilling movement. The myriad problems that bridle women's
participation won't dissipate with general attempts to increase employment levels; the
gendered problems need to be identified, addressed and tackled specifically.
(Medha Uniyal is a development professional working in the vocational skilling arm of NGO
Pratham.
Awareness campaign against child labour launched
DNA India
Starting from Monday till World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, NGO Pratham along
with the police has initiated a campaign wherein they would be creating awareness among
citizens about child rights and protection.
An event in this regard was organised at Azad Maidan. The programme was graced by
Mumbai police commissioner Dattatray Padsalgikar, railway security officer Sachin Bhalode,
film personalities Sachin Khedekar and Spruha Joshi, Neelam Gorhe, member of Maharashtra
legislative council and Sharad Kale, chairman of Pratham.
Speaking on the occasion, Padsalgikar said: "Poverty is prime cause for child labour. It affects
children physically and mentally. Also, they are away from gaining education and this affects
their future. From the past few years the number of unaccompanied children has decreased
and I am happy to see that. Mumbai police aims is to eradicate child labour across the city."
Actor Sachin Khedekar said: "The idea behind organising this awareness campaign is to urge
citizens of Mumbai to raise their voices and take action when they see vulnerable children,
working children being exploited, etc.
Citizens can make a phone call to various helplines including Pratham: 022-65134884, police:
100/103, Government Railway Police: 9833312222 and Railway Protection Force: 182 and
Childline: 1098." Farida Lambay, co-founder of Pratham, said: "Our moto is to protect
children and spread the word to keep Mumbai safe for our children."
The campaign will mainly be implemented through online social media platforms like Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram. The dignitaries presented tweeted on the spot through their
individual Twitter/Facebook handles urging their followers to support the cause.
It feels good to give: HT Paathshala volunteers
The Hindustan Times
A common observation of the volunteers at HT Paathshala is the unbeatable enthusiasm of
the children and their joy in helping bring about equal opportunities for them.
Dilip Mehra
“I retired from work some time back and was looking for a way to give back to society. I also
wanted to do something useful with the free time I had. I found the answer in HT Paathshala.

43
Through the program, I was able to interact with children at the NGO, Pratham and teach
them English, Maths, Science and Hindi. It is so satisfying to see these budding young minds
from fifth, sixth and seventh class that hold promise and potential. Even though they go to
government schools, I could see that they needed attention and guidance in specific areas.
This helps them stay the course and shapes up their learning process.
I consider myself lucky and feel immense pleasure that I am able to work with these sharp
children who are likely to achieve something tomorrow. It is also a joy to be working with
Pratham which uses new learning methods and extra-curricular activities for children to
channelize their energy.”
“My experiences at Ryan Shine left me richer. I teach the kids drawing. We try experiment ing
with different methods of drawing. I teach them to draw plants and animals; they really enjoy
story based drawing. I was pleasantly surprised to see how rich their imagination really is and
how much caliber these children have. One of my students had drawn a group of elephants
living as a herd and supporting each other in the jungle. I could see the nuance and depth it
required.
But what’s really touching is to see that despite their challenges, these underprivileged
children don’t let anything stop them. This truly inspires me. In fact, I’ll go to the extent of
saying that my students display more enthusiasm and eagerness to learn and express
themselves than others. They certainly deserve equal opportunities and I’m glad to be able to
contribute to this through HT Paathshala’s tie up with Ryan Shine. It’s a source of joy and
motivation for me.”
About HT Paathshala
Hindustan Times Paathshala is a CSR initiative to support the education of underprivileged
children. Over 70,353 lives have been impacted under various projects of Paathshala since its
launch in April, 2012. The volunteer program was initiated on 7 Dec 2015 with our partner
NGOs to make volunteering accessible to those interested in devoting time for children in
need. Be it a donation or a purposeful hour spent with underprivileged children, small actions
make a big difference.
If you’re a volunteer, come forth and share your story. We’d love to know your experience.
Whether you teach academics, sports, art or music, your story can inspire others to join this
movement and bring about change.
#HTPaathshala #ShareYourStory
Recommendations for NGO to reach out and serve more people
The NGO has undoubtedly conducted great work in highlighting the cause of education for
underprivileged children. Its seminal work including the ASER report is looked upon keenly
by not only the government establishment but also various other industry bodies which led to
it being recognized by the Give Well organization as one of the top five NGOs in the country.

44
Some recommendations to help reach out and spread the word about its work:
1) Focus on technology
That said, the cause of education for underprivileged kids is still one of the large challenges
that the country faces. In the age of digital media and a mobile first economy, there is a need
to work backwards to ensure that the value of education is recognized as being critical for a
good standard of living. Here the use of technology solutions including associations with
service providers like Vodafone will become more important over the coming days.
2) Use of social and digital mediums to garner more support
While the NGO has had good success in spreading the word about its work on various social
media platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et.al., it is also become more
important to include a clear call to action on various posts on these social media platforms.
These could include a link to sign up for a volunteer program or even a link to donate via the
platforms.
3) Tie-ups with other industry bodies and media houses
The NGO has got good success in its associations with The Hindustan Times group and it
should look at more such partnerships to reach out to conglomerates and even end customers
effectively. The institution of the CSR act also opens new avenues for it to institute a CSR
arm at the NGO which can work to create socially relevant programs for its target audience

45
Bibliography / Webliography
 http://www.pratham.org/programmes
 http://www.pratham.org/about-us/recognition
 http://www.pratham.org/about-us/faq
 http://www.pratham.org/programmes
 http://mhrd.gov.in/sarva-shiksha-abhiyan
 http://mhrd.gov.in/rte
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India
 http://unicef.in/Whatwedo/40/Early-Childhood-Education
 http://www.pratham.org/about-us/about-pratham
 http://scroll.in/article/808219/indians-increasingly-prefer-private-education-71-
million-take-tuitions
 http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/pratham-revamps-aser-for-
deeper-insights-116012900021_1.html
 http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_rep_575.pdf
 http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/in-other-news/270516/the-door-step-
school-helping-underprivileged-children.html
 http://www.pratham.org/file/PEF-Annual-Report_2011-12.PDF
 http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/education-plus-development/posts/2016/06/09-
madhav-chavan-pratham-read-india-robinson-
varma?cid=00900015020089101US0001-060901

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