Access to Achievement: A Demonstration Project to Improve the Quality of Primary Education in India

Lead PI: Dr. Nirupam Bajpai

Unit Affiliation: Center for Sustainable Development (CSD)

June 2012 - September 2017
Inactive
Asia ; India
Project Type: Research

DESCRIPTION: This project aims to improve primary education and enrollment in 2 rural school districts, resulting in an estimated 4 million children having better access to higher quality education. We seek to demonstrate that a relatively modest, targeted program of innovations and resources geared toward community building, teaching and learning, and educational programming, coordination, monitoring and evaluation will significantly improve the outcome, be cost-effective and readily scalable. An important component will be to create better nutrition, hygiene and oral health practices to alleviate the health problems that often prevent students from focusing on learning. The project will draw on the experience of the Model Districts Health Project and models of best professional practice.

OUTCOMES: The project seeks to demonstrate that a relatively modest, well-targeted program of innovations and resources that is purposefully geared to community building, teaching and learning, and educational administration (i.e., programming, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation) will improve the quality of student learning and lower grade repetition and dropout rates and will be cost-effective and readily scalable. The project is expected to further India’s progress towards MDGs 2 and 3 on universal access to primary education for all children by 2015.

SPONSOR:

IKEA Foundation

FUNDED AMOUNT:

$1,836,264

RESEARCH TEAM:

Kavita Ahluwalia, Monisha Bajaj, Denise Burnette, Radhika Iyengar, Wahida Karmally, Huma Kidwai, Shreyanka Rao, Doug Ready, Shilpi Sharma

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY COLLABORATORS:

Millennium Villages Project Education Team, Teachers College, School of Social Work, College of Physicians & Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, Columbia Global Center -South Asia

PUBLICATIONS:

Ikea Foundation Funds Effort To Boost Primary Education In India

KEYWORDS

nutrition poverty community building oral health health model districts project education hygiene