Government Partnership

During 2016-17, Govt of Karnataka invited Pratham Mysore formally to partner with it to help improve the quality of education in the primary schools. Pratham’s lessons and learning methodology were transferred through training supervisors called Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs). The roll-out followed a two-stage process. In the first stage, Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs) were oriented by Pratham on the “teaching-at-the-right-level” (TaRL ) approach. This included assessment, grouping of children as well as teaching-learning methods.

Initially the program was piloted in three districts namely Mysore ,Mandya and Ramanagara in 2016-17. Three key elements that featured the program were:

1. Simple, periodic assessments which allowed for grouping as per learning level and tracking progress at a classroom level
2. A strong on-site monitoring system that was put in place by the government, which ensured continuous visits to schools by cluster, block and district resource persons
3. Regular review meetings to track implementation and ensure progress towards goals.

Based on the pilot study and improvements in the standards of learning in the children, the Govt extended the area of operation by adding ten more districts during 2017-18. As a result of the partnership, the reading ability in children saw an improvement from 29% to 65%. Maths skills too witnessed significant progress at the end of the program. Ability to do maths improved from 31% to 69%. The intervention was also conducted in over 1500 Urdu Schools. Ability to read a story in Urdu improved from 17% to 57%. In 2018-19,.Pratham trained CRPs and teachers from government schools across 18 districts . Today the program is being implemented through 2500 Cluster Resource Persons and 27000 teachers benefitting over 6 lakh children from 20 districts. In addition to Urdu Schools the program is also being implemented in Marathi Medium Schools during the current year.