COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP KEY TO BUILDING INDIA'S PUBLIC EDUCATION SYSTEM

At just 24, Deve Kichche has transformed education in the Manikonta and Misma villages, located in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh.

- KHUSHBOO AWASTHI & SANTOSH MORE

As a volunteer with Shiksharth NGO during the pandemic, she ensured children continued learning by distributing learning materials offline. She deepened her commitment at a single-teacher school in Misma, where she now teaches 31 students, in their regional language fostering a strong learning culture. The impact is undeniable—student attendance and learning outcomes have seen a remarkable 90% improvement.

Deve's role in transforming this community's education system exemplifies the part a local leader, a community member, can play in facilitating learning. What if we could enable millions of similar leaders who could drive effective education change in their respective communities by leading continuous micro-improvements? How could a people’s movement - where everyone exemplifies agency by leading micro-improvements in their context, and thus, becomes an education leader— and transform the lives of 3.7 million students who drop out each year (Source: UDISE+ 2023-24)? How could such a people’s movement transform the learning experiences of 250 million children in our country?

India’s education system is one of the largest in the world with more than 1.5 million schools, 9.5 million teachers, and 265 million students (Source: Performance Grading Index 2022). This sheer scale complicates problem-solving, as challenges vary widely across states, languages, and with students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. For millions of Indian children in public schools, these institutions are the only viable path to education and vibrant life opportunities..