Teach For India joins Shibulal-backed Shikshagraha movement to strengthen 1 million public schools

Bengaluru: Teach For India, a member of the global Teach For All network, has joined Shikshagraha—a people-powered education movement backed by Infosys cofounder SD Shibulal and Kumari Shibulal—as part of an effort to strengthen one million public schools across India.

The partnership comes amid continued concerns over enrolment, learning outcomes and the quality of school education. Public spending on education by the Centre and states was estimated at about 4.1% of GDP in 2022-23, below the 6% target envisaged under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

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Shikshagraha works with a network of more than 40 civil society organisations across 16 states, bringing together schools, communities, government and civil society. A press release said that the movement has mobilised more than 3.9 lakh leaders across 2.1 lakh public schools and facilitated over 15.6 lakh “micro-improvements”, including nearly 45,000 changes driven directly by communities.

Teach For India will bring its 17 years of experience in developing teachers and young leaders to the network. The partnership will combine its classroom-led leadership approach with Shikshagraha’s model of collective action.

“Transforming public education is not the work of a few organisations, but the work of millions of people choosing to act, learn and improve together,” said Khushboo Awasthi, chief curator, Shikshagraha.

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Over the next year, Teach For India will contribute to the design of fellowship and leadership programmes, drawing on its experience in curriculum, coaching and assessment. Its Fellows and Alumni network will also participate in the movement across geographies, while classroom experiences will inform Shikshagraha’s work on leadership, student voice and agency.

“For 17 years, our Fellows and Alumni have shown us the power of the collective,” said Shaheen Mistri, CEO, Teach For India. “Shikshagraha’s vision of a movement of a million schools, led not by any one organisation but by millions of people choosing to act, is exactly the kind of shared vision that will shift the needle in education.”