Innovation

An example of innovative pedagogy is technique to teach the concept of colors. Unlike the conventional method of showing different colored objects while explaining different colors, teachers run a simple exercise in class. All objects of a particular color are hidden by the teacher and students are asked to find all objects of that particular color. In this way, students physically engage and interact with colored objects while learning the concept of colors, which is abstract in itself. With experience they realized, however, that addressing challenges at the level of pedagogy alone would not completely solve the problems prevalent in early childhood education in the country. Intervention at curriculum level is simultaneously important in impacting the learning process of young children. In 2017, they offered a series of learning modules called ‘Learning Mitra’ for students.

As they rightly said, English curriculum in India is heavily loaded with Western terms and values. For e.g. ‘A for Apricot’ and ‘K for Kiwi’ have no meaning to young rural children where these fruits are unheard of. Kiwi has only arrived the urban Indian markets in the past few years. The curriculum is innovatively designed to connect the social realities of the child to the foreign language. For e.g. there are characters associated with letters and each letter has a story about itself. For e.g. there is one ‘Angry Anju’ and a ‘Flying Fish’. Such innovative ways certainly impact the retention of the language which would go a long way in their education. Language learning is their primary focus area, where they are working on innovative ways by means of teacher training and learning modules.

In addition to curriculum books, they also have in pipeline a series of apps- aimed at facilitating language learning. The app would be available in English and a couple of Western languages, with a mechanism to give feedback to the learner about his/her performance.

Inspiration

The founder himself hails from a small town in India and has himself witnessed the harsh realities of inequities in access to quality education. He quit his job in a leading Indian based MNC to pursue his passion and to contribute to the development of education in India. He worked at a start-up in Mumbai working in the area of child education after quitting his job and then developed his idea of School Atlas. His team is equally motivated to the cause and strongly resonates with the mission of the organization. They wanted to create a systemic change which would enable more kids to get quality education, which is what led to School Atlas.

Overall impact

So far, the organization has mentored students in towns and villages in the Indian state of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. In total, they have in the past 2 years impacted 3500 students, roughly 40% from villages across about 95 schools. They have trained more than 220 teachers in a span of 2 years. They work closely with the schools, educators, students and parents, and provide them with - Quality curriculum, Technology to aid the process, Trainings for teachers, Innovative teaching method etc, all focused on improving the learning outcomes of the students.

Business benefit

Private schools are approached before the start of an academic year and are explained the value proposition. It takes roughly about 3 months to convince the school management, and in competitive landscapes where newer private schools are eager to offer a unique learning experience to students, this task is relatively simpler. In the local areas, consultants are hired and trained to impart pedagogical training to teachers.

The margins are roughly about 60% for the founders and the revenues have been steadily rising. The business model is such that private schools are charged on per student basis- at a rate between $14-$21.

Social and environmental benefit

The focus of the organization to address challenges in language learning in early education of children will go a long way in development of students. It will impact their ability to learn and understand concepts of STEM i.e. science, technology, engineering and mathematics further in their life and this is important more so considering that higher education in India is largely pursued in English across the country. The organization in committed to smaller towns and villages in India where opportunities for quality education are scarce. The impact has been positive and increasing year after year as the organization is expanding its reach.

https://www.facebook.com/schoolatlas/videos/351619741948563/

Interview

Sagar Khairnar, CEO