The Challenge

While India has the largest school network in the world serving 6.4 million students, learning outcomes are poor. Half of the children in primary grades are unable to read a simple text, and nearly two thirds cannot do basic arithmetic. These numbers have only worsened over the years. As India’s public school grapples with its own challenges, parents driven by a desire for more accountability and a hope for better quality education have increasingly moved toward low-cost private schools.

Though India has more than 300,000 low-cost private schools, their fragmented and unorganized nature means there is no uniformity in curriculum or operating procedures and little capacity for quality education interventions.

The Innovation

Standard of Excellence in Education and Development (SEED) is working to solve this problem. It works with underperforming low-cost private K-10 schools to institute a standardized curriculum, teacher training and other operational processes to improve efficiency and help these schools deliver the best quality education at the most affordable levels.

SEED and its team of education experts have designed a specialized technology-driven curriculum for primary students. They also provide teachers with detailed lesson plans and comprehensive support to deliver the best possible instruction in classrooms. SEED’s vision for education goes beyond academic achievement to incorporate opportunities for children’s social development through extracurricular activities, athletics and project-based learning.

The Impact

By building a scalable management model for low-cost private schools in India, SEED’s vision is to advance learning outcomes through an effective curriculum, innovative teaching methods and efficient school operations. Its aim is to provide a solution to India’s unorganized, highly fragmented private education sector. By investing in the professional development of teachers, SEED improves retention and, most importantly, builds trust with both teachers and parents. Over the next few years, SEED hopes to expand to managing five schools, reaching over 2,000 students with affordable, high-quality K-10 education.