Laughter echoes through a brightly lit government primary school classroom tucked away in the hills of Arunachal Pradesh near the India-Myanmar border. Around the room, walls are alive with colour—new words, local plants and animals, and multiplication tables that double up as learning tools and inspiration. Small groups of children sit around low tables, sorting and playing with photos of everyday objects—clocks, bangles, plates, and even the moon—grouping them by shape, tracing them, and talking about where they’ve seen them in real life. When it’s time to dance, the tables are pushed aside, giving the classroom a whole new rhythm—one of movement, music, and imagination. Children clap and sway as they sing their favourite rhymes, their eyes lit up with joy. 

“Sun! Watch! Plate! Moon!” 6-year-olds enthusiastically share answers to the question: “Where do you see a circle in your daily life?” A hand shoots up—“Miss, chaand pura circle nahi hai. Toh hum isee circle kyu kehete hai?” [“Miss, the moon is not exactly a circle. Why are we calling it a circle?”]

In this classroom, the superpowers of every child are unlocked—curiosity, critical thinking, and making room for every child to feel seen and heard— the love for learning.

In India, 140 million children attend government schools– that’s nearly the size of Russia. But the joyful, engaging classroom as seen above is not yet the norm. Most schools still focus on rote learning, where children are taught often in a language that they don’t understand, and after a few years of staring vacantly, failing tests, and feeling frustrated, they choose to drop out to work, which seems like a more valuable use of their time.

This is not a far-fetched dream—it’s a very possible reality for all government schools across the country. When system leaders, school heads, and communities come together around a shared vision of what a good school looks like, the magic begins. 

Meet Arka — the superhero at the heart of our campaign. Arka represents what’s possible for children as schools unlock their superpowers. As school heads and teachers begin to take steps towards making classrooms active and engaged spaces, superheroes like Arka begin to emerge in every part of the country.

Over the past eight years, we’ve worked with more than 10,000 schools across Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Nagaland, Thane, and Tripura, as well as 6,000 village libraries in Karnataka—in partnership with government departments and civil society organisations. We have seen many a classroom come alive.

Let’s see how Adhyayan Foundation enables leaders in the government education system to lead schools that unlock children’s superpowers…

1) We help school heads, teachers, parents, and children evaluate themselves with a quality framework. This framework has 46 indicators of school quality.

Stakeholders in Tripura attending a classroom observation, one of the four methods of evidence of collection to evaluate schools.

2) Through their scorecards, schools can determine their strengths and areas of improvement. We enable them to use this to create an action plan that is contextual to their reality.

Teacher in-charge working on an action plan in Dhalai, Tripura.

3) School heads are then supported to visit each other’s schools to track each other’s progress, celebrate successes, and discuss challenges.

School head being supported to conduct a support visit of a different school, where progress is being tracked and documented. 

4) Through our tech-enabled systems, data is distributed to districts and states so that education officials can see what action they can take to support schools and encourage them.

School head in Nagaland using SUDHAAR, our app designed to support school leaders in documenting and managing their school’s improvement journey.

5) We capture all the amazing practices of teachers and leaders in the remotest corners of the country- on Abhyaas, our learning platform. This enables teachers, school leaders, and education administrators to learn from each other. System leader in Arunachal Pradesh exploring our learning platform Abhyaas.

Content filming at a school in Pernem, Goa where the teacher is sharing the impact of a reading corner as a result of our Read-Aloud programme. Easy access to books has increased reading time and encouraged students, especially Hindi speakers, to make efforts in learning and reading Marathi and English.

6) We activate networks of local stakeholders (volunteers, public libraries, local industry etc.) to create an ecosystem of support around schools.

A local librarian in Karnataka reads aloud to children at a nearby government primary school, voluntarily hosting regular storytelling sessions.

A representative of local industry in Goa conducting an exposure visit to 9th and 10th graders under Adhyayan’s Career Compass programme.

Football coach from the local community with students in Goa as part of Adhyayan’s FieldConnect football coaching programme. The programme promotes physical education, discipline, a sporting culture, and the holistic development of students.

7) Through all this, we are building the capacity of educators and leaders in the government education system so that the ecosystem can run independently and sustainably once we have exited the geography.

Read-Aloud session being conducted by a school teacher in Kalyan, Maharashtra, following trainings and support by Adhyayan associates.

Training led by education officials in South Tripura for School Management Committee members (including parents, teachers and school heads) on how they can help improve schools.

Felicitation ceremony in Goa recognising, appreciating and celebrating champions who have led school improvements.

This year, we want to expand our reach by 8,000 more schools. We are raising ₹30 lakh by 15th June 2025 to be able to continue taking our work to underserved regions. 

Support us in our journey to bring “a good school for every child.” Donate now and become an enabler of superheroes.

Read more about our work here.

Note: By donating to Adhyayan, you’ll be helping us build capacity and enable our teams to provide responsive programs that support government schools across the country towards our goal of reaching 100,000 schools till 2030.