Executive Summary
Approximately 86 million—nearly 60 percent—of 144 million children in India’s government schools cannot read grade-2 text. Eighty percent cannot perform simple math sums. Sampark Smart Shala solves this challenge by igniting the teacher-student interaction and scaling up that dynamic via partnering with the government.
Our program has five innovative elements, including an audio box with voice mascot, “Sampark Didi,” that delivers lessons with songs, music, and games—a listening and speaking catalyst for first-time English learners that uses a “whole language” approach. Sampark Smart Shala also features a mobile app that works without an internet connection.
Combined with extensive teacher training and rigorous, real-time monitoring, the initiative has helped achieve a 40 percent increase in learning outcomes for seven million children in 76,000 rural schools in India. At just $1 per child per year, we hope to reach 20 million children in 200,000 schools over the next five years.
Charity, fund, non-governmental organization, religious institution, school, or other entity
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Accomplishments
A third-party evaluation in 2018-19 found that the proportion of children able to answer grade-level questions in math and English increased in one year by 39 percent in Chhattisgarh; 36 percent in Jharkkand; and 47 percent in Haryana. Some districts reported performance improved nearly 65 percent.
In addition, teacher workload dropped by 30 percent. Teacher attendance for the training was 95 percent and participants gave training a 4.5 out of 5 rating. Refer to this website for more information.
