Akshara Foundation

1. Section-4 of The National Educational Policy (NEP-India) 2020 talks about innovative pedagogical practices such as Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) in making mathematics fun. It articulates the need for interactive, joyful, creative and collaborative classroom practices for hands-on experiential learning. However, there is very little by way of tools/kits in classrooms to allow such learning.

2. In 2015, the State Government of Karnataka introduced Ganitha Kalika Andolana (GKA) in collaboration with Akshara to support children in grades 4 and 5. GKA promotes “Activity-based learning” with the aid of Math TLMs provisioned inside classrooms. It follows a multi-stakeholder approach, engaging with state and local Governments, teachers, parents and community members to help our children learn Math in a fun way.

 3. Based on the request from the State, Akshara will be extending GKA to Grades 6-8. This pedagogical innovation will be towards the creation of TLMs.

 It will help in bridging the learning gap by :

• Promoting Collaborative/Group learning
• Concrete-to-Abstract thinking via a wide variety of learning materials
• Providing hands-on experience to gain an implicit understanding of concepts for children
• The program involves ‘Teacher’s training’. Teachers trained will teach math in the suggested methodology using TLMs, group learning and activity-based learning to all children.

This program GKA2.0 as it is called by Karnataka SSA(Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) will be implementation of the TLMs and math pedagogy in Grade 6,7,8 in government schools in 7 districts in Karnataka, India

4. Direct beneficiary –

Target beneficiary is all government school children from Grade 6-8 (Age 11-13) – They live in rural, underserved communities. Over 52% of the children are girls. Due to social pressures, the chances of drop out is very high unless they show interest in learning and are learning well.They come from families with low skilled jobs. They do not have a learning environment at home.

First phase of the implementation of GKA2.0 will happen in 7 districts in kalyan Karnataka , India.

Kalyan Karnataka – 7 districts

Total number of schools - 5136   , Total number of children  - 3,99,000+ , Total number of teachers – 13,000+

• Children in grade 6 - 143479       
• Children in grade 7 - 133985        
•  Children in grade 8 - 121588    

Akshara Foundation has been implementing its flagship ‘Ganitha Kalika Andolana ‘ ( Math Learning Movement) model in the states of Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh to scale. Ganitha Kalika Andolana (GKA) is Akshara’s Math model designed as a support program for students and teachers in government primary schools to bring proficiency for children in Grades 1-5. It focuses on improving math skills by making learning fun and relevant to everyday life and is taught based on the philosophy of ‘Activity Based Learning’ (ABL). 

 We have impacted over 5 million children since inception in three Indian states – Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. GKA is a robust and effective model engaging multiple stakeholders and giving the child exposure to math in the classroom and in the community.

 This program GKA 2.0 is an extension of the same methodology and guiding principles to middle schools  - Grade 6,7 & 8 .

Government Buy-in, Pedagogy, Teacher Training, Monitoring and evaluation and community involvement are integral part of Akshara’s implementation model

Akshara would like to make Math learning fun for children in grades 6-8 using an activity-based TLM kit for experiential learning. As part of their plan for 2022-23, Government of Karnataka will equip ~5136 schools in the seven districts of the Kalyan Karnataka Region with a new Math kit.

Akshara will supplement the government investment by:

 Strategy 1: Teacher Capacity building: Support Samagra Shikshana Karnataka (SSK) in teacher training on the new TLM Math kit Revise the teacher training manual for TLM based on feedback after Year 1 (2023-24) Creation of digital teacher training modules for teachers and making it available in the mediums of instruction in Karnataka

Strategy 2: Having a team to gather classroom observation from teachers on the usage of the kit Strategy 3: Assessment and study of impact on children’s learning in Grades 6-8 (in the 2nd and 3rd year)

Strategy 4: Community-led child assessments by local, unpaid Education Volunteers (EVs)

Strategy 5: Engaging all stakeholders including Government buy-in and extensive community engagement

Akshara Foundation has developed a tool to collect the teacher training feedback, student learning assessment. Akshara also documents few case studied from different stakeholders like master teacher trainers, teachers, students, parents and senior decision makes in the government education department.

For GKA1.0, we have a platform called Karnataka Learning Partnership (klp.org.in) which captures the data collected on teacher training feedback, classroom /school visit feedback and also student assessment data. All these are available in the portal and a stakeholder from government department (like a Block Education officer) can view and monitor the operation data and the current status of the program in the geography(district, taluk or gram panchayat level) . 

Joyful and experiential learning of Math for children in middle school using Teaching Learning material and activity-based learning

Teachers are equipped to deliver quality math instructions. Abstract concepts in math become interactive, hands-on and activity based. Group learning and collaborative learning help children understand concepts better. The above innovative and experiential pedagogy helps in building necessary skills in children - like questioning, reasoning and visualization. For long term sustainability, the state and the community are invested in this program.

Any program with a massive scale of implementation will need an effective monitoring /impact evaluation tool which can be replicated across other districts and states

LEAP fellows will help Akshara Foundation creating a framework for monitoring the implementation of the program at scale. LEAP fellows will design the necessary tools required for

• Monitoring and Evaluation Classroom observation to understand the impact of trainings
• Field monitoring to understand the usage of Math kits, availability of trained teachers and group learning inside classrooms
• LEAP fellows will also give a framework on how this impact evaluation/monitoring tool will be able to scale. The fellows will brainstorm on effective use of open-source technology to measure and monitor the program implementation

The framework should be usable across any program that would measure the impact of successful implementation of scalable model in education system across other NGOs. This will help Akshara Foundation to use the framework for other states and other districts.