Learning: Enable learning in innovative ways

The Need

70% of children in India attend government schools predominantly in rural areas. Many children attending government schools are first generation learners. Their families are not equipped to guide their education at home (78% of rural adults have less than 5th grade literacy). As a result, teachers become the only source of guidance, thus putting extra burden on the already over-burdened teachers. Teachers and children in such schools need innovative tools and approaches to learning. Tools and approaches that maximizes classroom engagement, so that they get the best out of the limited time they spend learning together.

Most children lack basic foundations in reading, science & mathematics. A national study shows that children are not learning in schools, 75% of children in Grade 5 cannot perform division in mathematics, and around 45% of children in Grade 5 can read only at Grade 2 proficiency.

Our Approach

ILP’s long-term goal is to transform government schools into fun and exciting learning spaces for children to become capable, conﬁdent, inquisitive and value-aware, and realize their fullest potential. ILP also acknowledges the role of teachers in schools and our interventions are built around teachers as the key facilitators of in-school learning.

Guiding stars of all our learning interventions are

All subjects are equally important
Learning doesn’t start or end at school
Teachers are critical in facilitating the learning process
Varied teaching and learning methods motivates a wider range of students

Preschools & Primary Schools

Preschools (Anganwadis)

At the preschool level we train Anganwadi workers on child friendly teaching methods and preschool methodology. We implement activity based learning methods that focus on play, music and child friendly interactions. The goal is to provides learning in the area of discipline, hygiene, confidence and basic letters and numbers. This is a critical to prepare the children for primary school.

Primary Schools

For primary schools, while enrollment has been addressed to a large extent, there other issues that prevent effective learning. We focus on attendance because that is the first step towards learning. We have also identified problems in schools with teacher shortages where ILP provides additional teachers (referred to as para teachers), while advocating with the school monitoring committees to get the teachers recruited. As part of our innovative Multi Dimensional Learning Spaces program we work in primary schools to improve reading by setting up bi-lingual child friendly libraries based on a proven method to improve reading abilities in children.

Upper Primary and Secondary Schools

For upper primary and high school, the focus is on multi-dimensional learning. Our program, Multi-Dimensional Learning Space (MDLS), a during-school program, provides multi-dimensional learning opportunities for school children to explore, experiment, discover, and learn in multiple ways. The goal of MDLS beyond improving learning competencies is to equips students with academic and life-skills. MDLS also provides students exposure to a wide variety of areas beyond the school curriculum.

Impact

We have implemented our learning framework MDLS to increase classroom engagement across 980+ schools across 7 states. These have been done through direct implementations and through partnerships with other Non-Profits, CSR teams and Government.

3,000 preschool teachers and helpers in Kalbaurgi district being trained on our early childhood program methodology by the Government

100% of teachers feel that digital content helps children understand concepts better

50% improvement in student understanding of math and science concepts

265,000 children learning through hands-on and audio visual methods