Engaging with communities for children’s

learning:
The Pratham Experience

International Workshop on
Innovative Efforts for Universal Quality Education
 About Pratham….
• Started in Mumbai in 1994

• Mission : “Every Child in School and Learning Well”

• Founding principles:
• Citizens can and must help to supplement and strengthen
government efforts
• Simple, replicable, low-cost models and techniques in which
ordinary people can participate
• From inception to now… Rapid scaling up and growing participation of
citizens, corporates and government.

CURRENT COVERAGE : 2013-2014

• Presence in 26 cities across India reaching 350,000 children
• Direct Activities in 163 rural blocks in 15 states reaching 250,000 children.
• Impacting about 4 million children through partnership with government at
different level in 7 states.
About: Annual Status of Education Report : ASER
ASER 2005 -2013 : A citizens view of elementary education
 How far have we come? Done every year since 2005.
 Randomly selected 15,000 villages. Schools in villages visited too.
 ~ 320,000 households and 600,000 children between 3 and 16
 Children’s schooling and learning status assessed in the household
 Schools observed for basics : teachers, rooms, textbooks, water etc

Operational aspects of Participatory aspects of ASER

ASER
 550+ districts participate (total~ 600)
 Sampling design  In each district, a local group for survey,
 Basic tools ..floor test dissemination and action
 Simple fast analysis  20,000 volunteers participate each year
including students of DIETs.
 “Digestible” findings
 Funded by individuals, corporate and
foundations.
 Setting the stage at ground level :
Every child in school & learning well

Every child in school or not is visible and easy to understand, but

Every child learning well or not is less visible and not as easy ….

QUESTIONS : At local level, in communities & schools…..

How well do we really know our children? Large families / multi grade classes

• Parents “send” children to school and are concerned about “inputs” .

Parents often over-estimate what children can do (JPAL study)

• Teachers “teach” the course for the grade level.

Teachers often over-estimate what children can do (SchoolTELLS)

• Schools not structured to identify or to help those who fall behind

Learning delayed is learning denied. Children need to learn satisfactorily
at the right time to make adequate progress through the education
system to complete at least the elementary stage. Otherwise “at risk”..
 What is our strategy?
How to link evidence to action ?

• In every community where we work, we can identify

many gaps and many needs….But given scarcity of
resources, constraints of time, where are we making the
most difference? How do we find out?

• Curiosity within Pratham, internal attempts to

understand impact, collaboration with MIT and others

• From 1998 on, Pratham’s own assessment efforts and

collaborative research projects: Apart from findings,
together we learned a lot:
– What tools & methods are “do-able” on scale ?
– What can our volunteers or citizens relate to?
– What do teachers find interesting?
– What do parents understand?
– How to link evidence to action?
EXAMPLE 1: Simple assessment tool was useful for
Can children read? instruction and also for engaging parents
and teachers about what to do.
What to do ?

Grade 1 level text

Grade 2 level text Letters Simple

common words
EXAMPLE 1: “Learning” chart for the class
The teacher
Reading listens to each
Baseline Mid Point Final child read one by
level
one using the
"Story"
simple tool.
(Grade 2
level text) She knows where
each child is
“Para” beginning and
(Grade 1 also the
level text) distribution of the
class.
Words Mallika, Balvinder
How effectively
Ashish, Ajit, Sanjay,
Salim, Nuzhat, Sanjib, can she help to
Letters Farida, Meera, make all children
Madhuri
to become
Usha, Reshma, Ron,
Not even Balaji, Chandra,
“readers”?
letters Sunita, Vivek, Brij,
Pushpa How simply can
parents ask
Total 20 20 20 about progress?
EXAMPLE 2 : Village report cards…learning
camp.
Big meeting in
Discussion in small groups village to discuss
in each hamlet/school :
Start action.
village education
report card. Agree Track
Local people help in on measurable
making the Village report Attended by next changes in
card. parents, villagers, steps… children’s
village committee learning over
Report card focuses on members, On next 2 cycles
whether child goes to headmaster and what of camp
school & on whether teachers. can be lasting 30
child can read simple done days.
text and do basic in
arithmetic village

“Demo” camps run in

the village for 8-10
days to show how
children can learn to
read quickly
 EXAMPLE 3: Learning from village report cards
ENGAGE AND EVALUATE UNDERSTAND EVIDENCE
Generate curiosity Digest information as it is being
Encourage participation generated close to the ground
Engage via simple activities
Use basic tools & methods Move from anecdote or personal
Generate your own data experience to aggregate picture
Enabling analysis based on
De-mystifying research and evidence
assessment

COMPARE WITH PROVISIONS THINK ABOUT SOLUTIONS

Local demands for information What can we do as citizens?
about plans & provisions
Local strategies, common goals,
Push for institutional mechanisms collective involvement
for linking govt and citizens Linking assessment and analysis
Demanding accountability & to action
working out collaborations
with government
What about action?
Evolution of READ INDIA as a national campaign
Simple accelerated learning technique READ INDIA formally
For reading & for arithmetic declared after ASER
Three months to fluency 2006 with partners &
And for catching up govts. Reached 350
Good for age 8 & above out of 600 districts
Then, Pratham and 30 million
First, Pratham teams catalyzed & children in 2008-
teams practiced convinced 2009.
with children in teachers and
Today, demonstration
Pratham village volunteers
learning camps in
programs. to help their
about 160 rural
children learn to
~ 170,000 blocks involving
read
children communities and
~ 120 districts teachers and state
2001-2003
level partnership in 3
2004-2006
Balsakhi study states.
Remedial Jaunpur study
Learning camp Study
education Village volunteer by JPAL in UP
 Basic strategies for catalyzing action on scale
MOBILIZE VILLAGES CATALYZE SCHOOL SYSTEMS
For learning focus in community For focused learning inside school

Via “demo” classes & discussions Via normal school functioning :

with parents, panchayats :
Specify simple goals & timelines
Specify simple goals & timelines Understand current learning status
Understand current learning status
Do a large scale pilot with 100-250
Do “demonstration” of activities, schools with key members of the school
do village assessments, system staff as leaders-trainers and
discussions in community meetings monitors.

Scale up phase-wise by seeding Scale up using district-block-cluster level

blocks in district & ramping up government people in same way as pilot.

Via volunteer training & materials Via teacher training & materials

Give village volunteers materials Provide technique, goals, materials and

and training on technique- issues practice to the school system- uncertain.
of sustainability
IN INDIA : 200 MILLION KIDS THE SITUATION CANNOT BE
94% ENROLLED IN SCHOOL CHANGED BY GOVERNMENT
ALONE…..AS CITIZEN’S WE
AFTER BEING IN SCHOOL FOR 5 HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY…TO
YEARS ~ 50% CANNOT READ GIVE A BIG PUSH
FLUENTLY OR DO BASIC
ARITHMETIC