Social Business

Education in India

Girl child in school

April 05, 2019

Finding the sweet spot for innovation within government systems

Three guiding principles for nonprofits looking to find where they best fit within government-run systems.

by Stanford Social Innovation Review | 5 min read

January 22, 2019

"Let us not give up on government schools"

While ASER 2018 shows a big gap in learning outcomes in private and public schools, many commentators who jump to conclusions about the state of public education make a fundamental analytical mistake.

by Martin Haus, Rakesh Kumar Rajak | 5 min read

January 18, 2019

Are private schools really better than government schools?

A survey conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation finds that Indian parents sending their children to private schools often don't get what they pay for.

by Shreya Roy Chowdhury | 6 min read

January 15, 2019

Without accountability, there's no pressure to improve

In this video, Centre for Civil Society founder Parth Shah discusses whether the Right to Education Act is a great idea that's been poorly implemented, and offers suggestions for how it can be improved.

by Educational Initiatives | 5 min read

November 13, 2018

"Are you measuring your intervention?"

In this video, Dr Rukmini Banerji shares her insights on the challenges of assessing learning outcomes, the role of applied research, and the importance of evaluation.

by Educational Initiatives | 3 min read

A woman explaining something to a village mother

November 08, 2018

Educating children starts with parents

Parents from low-income families often struggle to find the time to support their children, are alienated from educational systems themselves, and lack access to the networks that middle- and higher-income parents have.

by Seemant Dadwal | 4 min read

barren land farmer

July 20, 2018

The need to invest in climate change education

Nearly half of the Indian population lives in places that are likely to become moderate to severe climate hot spots by 2050, and yet, 65 percent of the population is unaware of climate change.

by Dr Malti Goel | 3 min read

affordable private schools

July 19, 2018

The billion dollar opportunity in affordable private schools

Given the large potential in the APS arena, there is space for pioneers to build this market and reap its rewards.

by Sandeep Aneja | 5 min read

migration of workers skilling

June 12, 2018

How India’s state borders inhibit migration

Indian men seeking education and jobs are reluctant to cross state borders. India’s system of ‘fragmented entitlements’ is to blame, given state-level benefits and residents getting preferred treatment for higher education and government jobs.

by VoxEU | 5 min read

Burkha clad women discussing amongst themselves

May 09, 2018

The role of parents in improving learning outcomes

It's time to start recognising and reimagining the role of parents by making them equal partners in the task of improving learning and academic outcomes for their children.

by Abhishek Choudhary | 4 min read

May 02, 2018

Charting the rise of budget private schools

With 30 percent of the country’s school going children likely to attend budget private schools over the next few years, it’s important to understand the opportunities and challenges that this segment presents.

by Debleena Majumdar | 5 min read

blackboard chalk duster Indian education

March 29, 2018

Learning new lessons to revive secondary education

With traditional solutions failing to solve India’s public education woes, it is time to explore alternative approaches that prioritise learning over schooling.

by Natasha Joshi | 5 min read

adolescent girl riding a bicycle

January 17, 2018

Market forces can be powerful in driving social change

While top-down initiatives, supported by funds and policies, have traditionally helped drive social change, social entrepreneurs are increasingly trying to use market forces as an effective way to bring about change.

by Ramya Venkataraman | 4 min read

Disabled child with notebook

December 01, 2017

Making education inclusive for children with disabilities

Children with disabilities are missing from the mainstream discussion on education. When it comes to making schools inclusive, gaps remain in knowledge, data, funding, skills and policy. Here’s a deeper look at the issues and how to address them.

by Krisstina Rao, Mary Ellen Matsui | 4 min read

Boy walking in school

November 30, 2017

Making government schools great again

Can existing government school infrastructure be harnessed to deliver better educational outcomes for our children? What are the steps required to make this happen?

by Amitav Virmani | 4 min read

blackboard drawing education in india

November 16, 2017

Education in India: Where funders need to focus efforts

Despite much investment in the education sector, learning outcomes have declined. Where are we going wrong? This article, based on a landscape study of funding in the education space, points out where the focus must lie for sector-level impact.

by Aarti Mohan, Rathish Balakrishnan | 4 min read

Drawing of girls studying outdoors

November 15, 2017

Our solutions for education aren't working. Here's why.

Is our approach to the learning crisis in our country all wrong? While the focus today is on systems, infrastructure and assessments, the real drivers of change lie elsewhere.

by Natasha Joshi | 4 min read

paperweights with designs of dolls on them placed in ascending order of height

August 30, 2017

Scaling: How to go from x to 10x

What happens when your nonprofit is asked to scale 10x more than planned? These crucial steps can help you achieve exponential scale without compromising your quality.

by Satyam Vyas | 4 min read

happy kids in school

August 03, 2017

The numbers don’t add up

Despite huge investments by the government and social enterprises, India’s education sector continues to be a story of poor learning outcomes and inadequate quality. What lessons can we learn from our experiments so far?

by Vikash Jha | 6 min read

Two girls playing

July 20, 2017

Services and rights: The twain do meet

The two approaches are not as mutually exclusive as they are made out to be; in fact, the gap is narrowing rapidly because of the way our context has evolved. The focus must be on finding more common ground between the two.

by Ananthapadmanabhan Guruswamy | 4 min read

Parts of a machine

June 29, 2017

Inside out: Changing systems from within

Approaches to tackling development problems are most effective when they entail working within existing systems. In this article, Azad Oomen points to ways in which the education sector has managed to do just that, and highlights the lessons learned.

by Azad Oommen | 3 min read

Girls studying in a classroom

June 28, 2017

"Nonprofits don't need to scale dramatically."

Anil Swarup, Education Secretary, MHRD, speaks to IDR about his priorities and plans for the sector.

by Anil Swarup | 5 min read

Girls studying in a classroom

June 27, 2017

A breakthrough in education reform in India

Seema Bansal and Arindam Bhattacharya of BCG demonstrate how transforming complex government systems improved education outcomes in Haryana.

by Boston Consulting Group | 3 min read

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IDR is India’s first independent media platform for the development community.

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CIN: U93090MH2017NPL296634