India has one of the largest education systems in the world, with more than 140 million students. The government focused on making schools more accessible in recent years, which resulted in close to 97 percent enrollment among school-aged children. Additional transformation of India's education systems, however, remains critical.

For these students, learning outcomes remain low as the country struggles with improving the quality and consistency of education — issues that must be addressed to meet growing workforce demands. An estimated 53 percent of fifth graders cannot read at a second-grade level, and 46 percent are unable to solve a two-digit subtraction problem. On average, a student is at least two grades behind the expected level for their age.

At the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, we have been working for more than 15 years to ensure more children in India can access a quality education, which opens the door to greater opportunity. With partners from social enterprises, tech companies, and other organizations, we advance measurable solutions that can impact learners across the country. We employ a variety of financial tools to support the work, including traditional grants, loans, and performance-linked financing models. Such large-scale transformation requires a systemic approach and insight into the full scope of the challenge.

The Challenges of Transforming India's Education Systems

Looking at what happens inside the classroom does not give us the full picture of a child’s education. Numerous factors and stakeholders impact the learning experience. That’s why we work with state governments and partners from all levels to coordinate the academic and administrative changes needed to transform education in India, also creating systems for data to measure their effectiveness. The roadmap to better learning outcomes requires improving the quality of assessment data, teacher availability in schools, transparency in the teacher allocation system, training and accountability for educators, and school-level planning.

This comprehensive approach is a paradigm shift in thinking about education transformation in India. Previous efforts focused on educational tactics like changing school infrastructure or improving classroom interactions through technology. But we’ve seen the results of an integrated approach in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan — states where we shifted the conversation among policymakers to address the teaching model and administrative challenges in tandem to improve learning outcomes.

Read the full article about India’s education systems at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.