"Diversity never leaves our context."

After our school visit, we headed to the Fulbright House, home of USIEF (United States-India Educational Foundation), to learn about literacy challenges in India with Pratham representatives and how they are working to address gaps in the education system with their "Teaching and the Right Level" (TaRL) program. Low literacy in India is "a learning crisis": the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for 2024 shows, for example, that only 44.8% of students in grade 5 can read a grade 2-level story. Additionally, Pratham speakers shared that many children enter grade 1 without school readiness skills and that one teacher can often end up managing students sitting together across three different grade levels, each with their own cognitive needs, creating significant challenges. 

Pratham partners with state governments and school districts get TaRL training and materials into the hands of teachers. In contrast to more traditional education, TaRL emphasizes learning as a relational activity: students and teachers gather in circles on the floor for lessons, lessons are multi-modal and kinesthetic, and students interact in both big and small groups, with small groups completing activities appropriate for their currently assessed reading levels. They also partner with parents and work to build their confidence in the fact that they can help their children with their school-readiness skills. 

The final part of our programming for the day was a panel discussion that tackled four themes: skills education, AI, social-emotional learning, and teacher training. Panelists shared concerns about a shift in state policy seeking to push more students into skills or vocational training as a means of addressing the country's unemployment. Dr. Monimalika Day worries that such a push loses focus on the development of the whole child and that the social context of the caste system can't be forgotten: many families and students themselves don't want to be associated with certain kinds of stigmatized activities (as many blue-collar positions are). 

Dr. Day also worries that socially disadvantaged groups are the ones getting pushed into this skills training (resulting in jobs that earn much less money than white-collar positions). In a similar vein, Dr. Poonam Batra reflected, "We are a caste society...I don't think you can get out of it that easily, through just policy." She, like Dr. Day, would like to see skills training delivered alongside theoretical/knowledge training, and would like skills to be introduced in all schools, for all students, in order to lessen the stigma and equip every student with more opportunities for social mobility. 

On the topic of social-emotional learning, we had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Himanshu Gupta, Secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in New Delhi. He was the architect of the Happiness Curriculum implemented in New Delhi government schools in 2018 in response to increasing mental health issues. 

Mr. Gupta shared that the curriculum starts with strong teacher training, grounded in self-awareness. For students, each day begins with meditation and ends with reflection—questions like 'What was challenging?' and 'What was a good part of your day?' are part of the routine. It also includes positive affirmations and guidance for parents on how to better support their kids (one tip: let them get bored!). According to Mr. Gupta, the curriculum has shown promising results, helping children articulate thoughts and emotions they previously struggled to express and reflect meaningfully on complex questions like, 'What is important in life?'

Dr. Batra agreed with the positive outcomes of the program but noted that "It shouldn't be an add-on. It needs to be integrated into the school culture and learning environment." One way she has worked towards this is through teacher training, focusing on equipping teachers with skills in human relations as well as familiarity with bodies of knowledge. 

She also touched on a common theme that has surfaced through each part of the program: the immense diversity that exists across India's history, geography, and current population of 1.4 billion people. "That diversity has to be brought into our teaching. The dominant models treat students as homogeneous..." she reflected. "We need to train teachers in the context of India. Diversity never leaves our context." As a result, her students have worked to interview affluent families and low income urban families to understand that there is not one textbook child, but many childhoods that make up India's schools. (While there were references made to "slums," this important article traces the term's problematic political history and makes a resounding argument for refusing to use it.) 

After the panel, as we enjoyed tea in the Fulbright cafe, one of our USIEF hosts, Mr. Dash, advised us to avoid bringing up questions on the Happiness Curriculum with our administrative hosts at our school visit tomorrow. "It will put them in an awkward position," he offered, as the curriculum's future is a big question mark under the new Delhi government formed in February, now led by Modi's conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Meghna Dhulia, writing for The Times of India, reported on this shift in early June, noting that it will be replaced by the "Science of Living" curriculum beginning in August 2025.