ANNUAL REPORT 2018-19 THE YEAR OF OTHER 5-6 CONTINUOUS LEARNING 23-24 PROJECTS

PUSHING FOR PARTNERSHIPS & 7-9 SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION 25-26 COLLABORATIONS

SIMPLE 10-12 SCHOOLS 27-28 FINANCIALS

YEAR AT GOVERNING BOARD 13-16 A GLANCE 29-30 FUNDING PARTNERS

SIMPLE

CONTENTS 17-22 VOICES 31-32 VISION - 2030

4 learning, who felt more confident and positive after engaging in continuous parent-teacher THE YEAR OF interactions we organized inside our schools and communities.

CONTINUOUS In , we strengthened our partnership with South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) schools in Bhim Nagri and Arjun Nagar as a part of their ‘School Quality Enhancement Program’ LEARNING (SQEP). In July 2018, we expanded our program into rural Haryana in a government primary school in Aklimpur in partnership with . This was a unique opportunity for us to test our model in a semi urban landscape and learn how to contextualize our support and intervention for this region.

At ‘Paathshala’, we continued our work with the students and communities while initiating interventions for whole school transformation. Paathshala is a rural school transformation intervention in partnership with Mountain Valley Springs Pvt. Ltd, who share our vision to build pathways to quality education for students studying in this rural area. We also renewed 2018-19 was the year of consolidating our school projects across Delhi-NCR & our partnership with the ‘Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan’ in the state of and are looking Uttarakhand under Simple Schools, our ‘Whole School Transformation’ to strengthen and expand further in this region in the near future. model. It was also the year we prioritised building a strong organizational culture that nurtures continuous learning and professional growth. 2018-19 has been our year of courage and hope. As we gained more clarity on our vision for ‘Simple Schools’, we also spread our wings far and wide, as we grew bigger and bolder as Our work inside government schools is built on this philosophy of a team and in our mission to transform government schools into centers of excellence. This continuous learning – where each stakeholder is empowered to take the Annual Report is our endeavour to document all our experiences and growth from the past lead in transforming their school communities into centers of excellence, by year, which incidentally also marks our fifth year of existence as a collective that is dedicated identifying their own growth path. and committed to making quality education an equal opportunity for all children in India in the next two decades. In the past year, we saw our students and teachers push themselves harder to strive for better, with a renewed sense of strength they found in the belief Here’s to flying together and soaring higher, with all our students, teachers and school we showed in them. We found our principals transforming into effective communities everywhere! school leaders who worked with us in building a positive school culture. We With Gratitude, discovered that our students’ parents invest more actively in their child’s The SEF Family 5 6 PUSHING FOR To empower SYSTEMIC Through our work inside our children to government schools, we want to build a better build pathways that offer every TRANSFORMATION child the opportunity to learn

VISION tomorrow. equally, regardless of their social and economic backgrounds.

We believe that if we want to empower our students with future skills, then we must first build those skills amongst our teachers, parents and school leaders. Our ultimate goal is to trigger systemic To transform transformation, and we want this to be a push that comes from the teaching and base of the pyramid. We believe learning practices if we enable the key stakeholders inside 50,000 in the school system, then they government will lead the change they wish to see within their own school MISSION schools in India. communities.

8 WE WILL DIRECTLY BY 2022 WORK WITH SIMPLE SCHOOLS

All our projects are rooted in our theory of change of empowering those within the school system to push for systemic transformation. We work inside government schools to transform four key stakeholders of a school community - students, teachers, parents and the school leaders.

We work towards building a ‘Whole School Transformation’ model, starting out with one or more key stakeholders, as we strive to build their skills, knowledge and mindset and bring them together to ultimately lead this process of transformation. In the short term, our models focus on improving the quality of teaching and learning in the public education space.

In the long term, we use our knowledge and experience of the educational realities from these diverse ecosystems, to work towards a sustainable and community owned educational reform across the country. We do this by partnering with government bodies, administrators, educators, social entrepreneurs and other key stakeholders. We start by understanding the current reality first and then go on to forge a tangible hypothesis to identify and build sustainable solutions within the system that are effective, adaptive and impactful in any given context.

9 10 Engaging Parents to be Invested and Empowered School Partners

5 YEARS Transforming Transforming WHOLE SCHOOL Learning Outcomes School Culture by TRANSFORMATION through a Cohort of Strengthening the Instructional Leaders School Leadership

11 THE CURRENT SYSTEM THE SUSTAINABLE SYSTEM 12 We worked across 12 2018-19 AT A GLANCE PARENTS AS communities to strengthen HOLISTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCE the parent-child relationship PARTNERS OF CHANGE ensuring parents take 100% of students were ownership of their child’s exposed to co-curricular learning STRENGTHENING activities like dance, music, INSTRUCTIONAL computers, and sports to ensure holistic learning LEADERSHIP

NEW SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

4 Government Schools across 3 States 30 teachers received FOCUS ON consistent support to build their classroom CONCEPTUAL vision, culture, and LEARNING & Provided in-classroom support and instructional practice leadership opportunities to strengthen to ensure they provide STUDENT foundational learning and build 21st-century quality learning in their LEADERSHIP skills in 950 students classrooms to their students. 13 14 The Great Teacher Roadmap is a 5-point self reflective scale that allows educators to TEACHER evaluate themselves and also chart out clear next steps for their own growth. STUDENT ASSESSMENT DEVELOPMENT BEGINNING OF YEAR END OF YEAR The National ASER Data* shows that only 27.2% SEF Grade 3 Classrooms National ASER average students can read a Grade 1.8 1.7 2.6 1.4 2 story in Grade 3 and PLANNING EXECUTION only 28.1% students can 76.7% perform subtraction. MATH Compared to that, the 1.2 BUILDING CONTINUOUS 1.8 learning outcomes from 2.3 REL ATIONS 2.3 28.1% LEARNING our classrooms was The Great significantly higher where Teacher more than 75% students Roadmap 70% could successfully subtract VISION TEAMWORK 1.8 A T eacher 2.1 and more than 70% Grade 2.8 SETTING 2.0 Evaluation T ool ENGLISH 3 students could read a Designed by SEF 27.2% Grade 2 text fluently.

1 YEA R

* The ASER Assessments were 66.7% conducted by a third party organisation called The Education HINDI Alliance. ASER is a tool designed Conducted Facilitated personal Observed classrooms Helped with necessary by the ASER Centre in Delhi. Read workshops learning experiences and gave feedback tools and resources 27.2% more about ASER on - http://www. asercentre.org

15 16 TRANSFORMATION STORIES SIMPLE VOICES FROM OUR SCHOOLS Name: Ram Sagar (Student) School: Bhim Nagri

Last year, Ram Sagar was constantly strugging inside the classroom. He was distracted and violent with other students, never wanted to focus on Name: Sunita ma’am school work and was struggling to read and write basic sentences despite (Teacher) being in the 4th grade. School: Bhim Nagri We had tried everything from conversations to consequences and nothing seemed to work. This was about the time we had started an organic farming initiative in our school with SowGood. We were skeptical about Sunita Ma’am seeks her inspiration from Mother his participation and sure enough, we got the same familiar feedback Teresa. She believes that for her students she about his constant disturbances in the farming classes. needs to be more than just a teacher. She strives to make her classroom more interactive But slowly, something about working on the field and spending time and enjoyable for her children. Over the past with plants started to change him. Through the year, he became the first year, she has been committed to improving student to always submit his farming homework, plan for the classes and her planning, seeks feedback proactively and share his reflections on how much plants give us. He is so connected and looks for exposure opportunities she can bring focused, always ahead in class and even takes the lead to help others, to her class. ensuring the others are tending to the soil gently and patiently. This has to be one of our favourite photos of Ramsagar - when he had planted On entering Sunita Ma’am’s classroom you watermelon seeds at home so he could harvest them by the summertime. can see her actively using activities from morning huddles, storytelling, and interactive He says when he grows up he wants to make inventions that will help the worksheets to make her classes more powerful farmers of India thrive. At Bhim Nagri, we want to continue to nurture Ram and engaging for the children. Sagar’s dream. 17 Name: Anita Pandey (Principal) Name: Manoj (Parent) School: Bhim Nagri School: Bhim Nagri

“The SEF staff through their commitment has blended well with the school and staff and the children. The all-round development in mental ability, cultural values, education standard and self- confidence of every child of Nursery, class 1, and class 2 is distinctly noticed and appreciated. Children are also getting exposed to modern teaching methodology and learning techniques.

Let us work harder and The objective of this program is a boon to every child. contribute positively in Collaborations with SEF is helping in bridging all kinds of socio Manoj Bhaiya brought his son, Suraj from the village, for better -economic gaps and ensuring the same time the quality education opportunities. But Suraj, could only speak Bihari and lacked any nation-building. is comparable to expensive public schools and no extra cost. This knowledge of Hindi or English, leading to major problems in the is a god sent opportunity for everyone (school staff, SEF staff, and classroom with other kids. Suraj, who couldn’t communicate with his peers dure the language barrier, always felt kids were abusing him and children).” would act of in violence.

Suraj’s teacher shared this feedback with Manoj Bhaiya and he ensure he worked with his son everyday to practice Hindi at home. Now Suraj, not only understand Hindi, he has also started communicating in English. Even today, Manoj Bhaiya ensures, Suraj is on time and is at the gate of school everyday when the bell rings to get feedback from Suraj’s teachers. When they go home he ensures he works with his son on his school work to help him continue his learning.

19 20 Name: Simran (Student) Name: Rekha ma’am School: Arjun Nagar (Teacher) School: Arjun Nagar Simran was an introverted, passive student, who wasn’t interested in learning at all. Despite being in Grade 3, she could barely recognize numbers or letters in any language. After being reassigned into the beginner level group, our teachers worked closely with her and understood that her lack of interest, stems from a volatile home environment.

Rekha Ma’am has been teaching in govt. schools for the past 8 years, She was withdrawn, because she thought that she’s taught children from grade 2 to grade 5. During her years as school is also a hostile place where nobody loves a teacher, she’s often found herself bogged down by administrative her. Through continuous interactions and one-to- work and unable to find new teaching techniques. one learning sessions, our team transformed the meaning of school for a student like Simran. Today Last year, when we started working with her school, she was eager to she looks forward to learning new things, plays in learn new practices our team introduced. In her classroom, she now school, finishes all her work on time, participates focuses on making content more engaging and entertaining rather actively and most importantly laughs and stays than just teaching in the traditional rote teaching. We often find cheerful. Rekha Ma’am looking up engaging videos and pictures to make the class more joyful. She’s even seen the attendance of her classroom go up since she’s adopted new teaching practices that were introduced to her. 21 22 Priya and Afreen from Prayogshala center made it to the finale of the "MY OTHER PROJECTS SUMMER DREAM" organized by Alohomora to celebrate self-learning during the summer vacation. They were among the 21 students who made it to the Prayogshala final round out of 225 entries from all over India. Priya went on to win and was awarded a cash prize to ensure she can continue to work on her skills in the journey of pursuing her dream to become a professional dancer.

In 2014, our co-founder Rahul Bhanot started Prayogshala in one room in the heart of Tughlakabad Extension community in Delhi. It started off as a remedial center for a group of 60 students who were taught by Rahul back when he was a Teach For India Fellow. The vision for this center evolved CELEBRATION with time, where the focus moved to building analytical and Aashayein OF HOPE critical thinking skills amongst the students by incubating a learning lab. The core philosophy here is to make learning more relevant. Students will understand the true purpose of This year we hit a very special milestone! We completed 5 years learning and this will happen not because a teacher will tell in our journey of building pathways to quality education in them this, but because they will understand and appreciate underserved public school communities. the value of the skills they learn. What started in 2013, in a small room in Tughlakabad Extension After 4 years of immersive support and some incredible in Delhi with a handful of students, has now grown into a strong milestones achieved, we realized that our girls had blossomed Last year, Rahul taught our girls at Prayogshala collective reaching out to as many as 1700 stakeholders including into independent learners and decided to phase out of the how to code. They used scratch code to design 950 children. immersive learning lab model and support them as guides/ some games and apps. They were featured on mentors from time to time. They now lead the community Rishtey TV as a part of The Children's Scrappy To commemorate this milestone and make it memorable, we space on their own and are proving to be effective student News Service, Girl's Who Code Episode! celebrated with our students, teachers, principals, parents and our leaders inside and outside of their schools. entire collective of supporters and partners. It was a day where we shared our memories and our joy and our hope to fly higher with 23 the dreams and aspirations of serving many more children. 24 PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS

We have been fortunate to have a strong network of partner organizations, funders and collaborators, who’ve helped us strengthen the foundation of our organization and build an effective and transparent culture. These partners have shown their faith in our mission for building better pathways to quality education for children studying in government schools. We are deeply grateful to them for their guidance and unwavering support.

25 26 FINANCIALS

HOW WE RAISED

HOW WE SPENT 27 SEF FUNDING PARTNERS GOVERNING BOARD Wipro Foundation Seed Grant

Forest Essentials (Mountain Valley Springs India Private CSR Support Limited)

Charities Aid Foundation India School Development Grant Rohit Tandan Founder Prajna India BCG, India (Boston Consulting Group) CSR Support Executive Director & Team Head Chetan Mehra Saiesha Gupta Individual Donor Bank of Singapore-Dubai Chetan Mehra Individual Donor Dr. Sujata Associate Professor Bharadwaj University of Delhi SONA BLW Precision Forgings Ltd. CSR Support Founder & CEO Shaheen Mistri Bakshi Sansar Chand Chhibber Teach For India Research Grant Memorial Trust Co-Founder & COO Rahul Bhanot Simple Education Foundation Pathways World School School Partner (Sarla Holdings Private Limited)

29 30 VISION 2030

“Your purpose should always be to know the whole head, heart, hand, and soul in service of all beings. We that was intended to be known.” decided that all our work at SEF will be centered around - Moses Maimonides this student vision and constantly serve our purpose of creating a world where everyone has the chance to As a collective we are embarked on a very ambitious access opportunities that can put them on a life path of mission – one that has an audacious goal of transforming their choice. public education in India into a qualitative, equitable and truly accessible learning space for all children. We We are currently engaged in crafting outcomes that are are aware that this commitment requires great grit and purposeful, rigourous, qualitative and sustainable. And courage and our core values of Sense of Possibility, with our work in each stakeholder in our schools, we are Excellence and Family help us anchor all our work to this also seeking to harmonize the alignment of head, heart, long-term vision. In order to stay focused on the path, We hand and soul. The way forward is exciting and eventful have defined a big milestone for 2030 that can motivate to say the least, as we work relentlessly to find solutions us and also help us validate our impact on the ground as that transform teaching and learning practices at scale we achieve this goal. across India’s public schools.

“Our vision is that by 2030, Simple Education We are confident that over the next few years we will Foundation will transform teaching and learning be able to transform our current schools into centers of practices inside 50,000 public schools in India.” learning excellence, collate best practices and share them with a wide network of collaborators and practitioners, At SEF, our vision for our students is to ensure that they that will exponentially increase learning outcomes and live in harmony in this ever-changing world. We believe build a movement of educators and students who are our children will continuously learn, reflect and grow committed to transforming the education landscape in into self-aware individuals who act with alignment in India.

31 32 CONTACTS

EMAIL: [email protected]

REGISTERED ADDRESS: SIMPLE EDUCATION FOUNDATION H-1, Bandhu Vihar, CGHS, Sector – 10, Plot No. – 11, Dwarka, New Delhi – 110075

CONTACT NO: +91-9810704035

FOLLOW THE SEF PAPER PLANE ON:

@sefconnect @sefconnect http://simpleeducationfoundation.org/ @simpleeducationfoundation Designed by: Harshita Malviya

Simple Education Foundation is a Trust formed under the Our USA affiliate, Simple Education Foundation USA is a We are registered under section 6 (1) (a) of the Foreign Indian Trust Act of 1882 and is approved under Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in the state of Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010 80(g) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Washington, USA. (FCRA Reg. No. 2010231661837).