India has made significant progress towards improving foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) under the NIPUN Bharat Mission, but sustaining learning gains and taking proven models to scale remain pressing challenges. As the focus shifts from expanding access to improving learning outcomes, the need for stronger implementation, better use of data, deeper community engagement, and long term partnerships has become increasingly evident.
In this interview, Mr. Balachander N V, Director, Ashok Leyland Foundation, shares insights from the Foundation's Road to School programme, which has reached over 4.9 lakh children across multiple states. He explains why understanding every child's learning level, empowering school leadership, and using real time assessments are critical to achieving measurable outcomes. He also highlights the importance of strengthening government systems, investing in long term partnerships with implementation organisations, giving greater attention to early grade numeracy, and leveraging technology and community participation to build a sustainable FLN ecosystem that delivers lasting impact.
Read the full interview for deeper insights into scaling FLN in India.
Q. Ashok Leyland Foundation's Road to School programme has reached over 4.9 lakh students across multiple states. From your experience, what are the most critical factors in ensuring that foundational literacy and numeracy interventions translate into measurable learning outcomes at scale?
A. Scaling FLN is not just about replicating a classroom model; it is about bending the systemic curve. In our experience, having worked across diverse geographies, three factors are non-negotiable:
Identifying Learning levels of children and Teaching at the Right Level: We cannot treat a Grade 5 student as a Grade 5 learner if they have Grade 2 competencies. The critical factor is shifting the pedagogical mindset from 'completing the syllabus' to 'ensuring that the child's current level dictates the instruction.' Our data shows that when we group children by ability rather than age, gains accelerate within 4-6 months.
Ownership by the 'Last Mile' Functionary: Scalability fails when the intervention is seen as an 'NGO project.' We invest heavily in co-creation with Block Education Officers and Headmasters. If the Headmaster sees the data and drives the timetable changes, the intervention becomes theirs, not ours.
Real-Time, Actionable Data: We need to move beyond attendance. We use continuous assessment to track progress. The critical factor is not just collecting data, but feeding it back to the teacher immediately so they can adjust their next day's lesson plan. Without that feedback loop, scale is just noise.
Q. Why do many FLN programmes struggle to sustain learning gains after the initial intervention period, and what can be done differently?
A. The sustainability challenge is perhaps the most under-discussed reality in the FLN sector. Research, including evidence from large-scale studies, tells us that while some initial learning gains may persist for a limited time, the positive effects on subsequent cohorts often diminish significantly. The harsh truth is: improved teaching practices do not sustain themselves without deliberate, structural reinforcement.
To do this differently, Road to School focuses on:
Shift 1: Institutionalization of best practices. During the program duration of 1+3 years, we ensure that the best practices like use of TLMs, Literacy and Numeracy clubs and wellness corners are established in the schools and carried forward by school teachers after we exit.
Shift 2: Embedding routines in the timetable. We work with school leaders to lock in dedicated 'language' and 'numeracy' periods that cannot be eaten up by other activities.
Shift 3: Community Reinforcement. Sustained learning requires continuous engagement. We use simple " community based or home-based" activities that parents can do without specialized training, ensuring the child practices skills even during breaks. We organize summer learning camps and winter boot camps to minimize learning losses during long school holidays.
The reality is: It takes three to five years of consistent handholding to move a school from 'intervention-dependent' to 'self-sustaining'. We structure our multi-year engagements accordingly.
Q. As India works towards achieving the goals of NIPUN Bharat, where do you see the biggest opportunities for corporates to contribute meaningfully to the FLN agenda?
A. The biggest opportunity for corporates lies in moving from funding to developing local solutions. Depth over breadth, capability over capital - that is where corporate contribution becomes truly transformative. First, designing mass campaigns that shift parental mindset from 'marks' to 'competencies,' making communities active partners in learning. Second, district deep-dives: adopting 5-10 districts and funding dedicated systems-strengthening cells within the education department to monitor NIPUN goals with rigour. Third, technology: building low-bandwidth, multilingual teacher assistive tools that help assess children and shorten the feedback loop to teachers on learning, solving a real classroom bottleneck.
Q. Implementation organisations often possess deep grassroots expertise but face challenges in accessing long-term, flexible funding. How can corporates better support these organisations to strengthen programme quality, innovation, and scale?
A. Corporates can change this by moving from short-term, project-based funding to multi-year, trust-based partnerships that invest in both programs and organisational strength. If we want programs that are high-quality, innovative, and scalable, we must give grassroots organizations what they have always given communities: trust, time, and the freedom to do their best work. Individual grants are important, but real scale comes when corporates collaborate and offer longer, more flexible support.
Q. What kind of impact metrics and evidence do you look for when assessing the effectiveness of FLN programmes and making investment decisions?
A. We use both formal and informal assessments to track progress. We look for 70 to 75 per cent of students to attain FLN proficiency at the end of our three-year programme duration as a non-negotiable KPI before we consider scaling the investment. The assessments are an integral part of the programme, comprising both assessments of learning and assessments for learning. This provides teachers and resource persons with real-time feedback on the progress being made. Apart from the in-class assessments, we also conduct baseline and endline assessments to measure before-and-after outcomes every academic year. Further, third-party impact assessments are conducted at the end of the four-year programme.
Q. How important is this ecosystem approach in creating lasting improvements, and what role can implementation partners play?
A. The ecosystem approach is not optional, it is the only path to lasting change. A child exists at the intersection of the teacher, the headmaster, the community, and the government. Implementation partners act as the 'glue' translating policy into practice. We build teacher capacity, equip headmasters with data to drive accountability, activate communities through School Management Committees and local leaders/governance, and align every intervention with the state's NIPUN roadmap. Our goal is systemic integration, by ensuring the system owns our work as its own, we institutionalise the practices
Q. Do you see the SSE as a potential amplifier for the FLN sector, and how can corporates leverage it?
A. The Social Stock Exchange is an intriguing new frontier, but the jury is still out on its immediate impact for FLN. Its greatest potential lies in standardising impact metrics—creating a transparent framework where learning outcomes are reported consistently across organizations. For corporates, the SSE can serve as a credible due diligence tool to vet potential partners. However, it is a financial instrument, not a pedagogical validation. Corporates must continue their own programmatic monitoring alongside SSE-based assessments.
Q. What area deserves greater attention, and how do you see your priorities evolving?
A. The single most underfunded and under-addressed area is early grade mathematics—numeracy. It receives far less attention than reading, yet it is the strongest predictor of future academic success. As Ashok Leyland Foundation along with our implementing partner, Learning Links Foundation we are working on enabling holistic education for one million learners, our priorities are evolving in three directions: moving from access to mastery, integrating socio-emotional learning into FLN to build confident learners, and leveraging community and parents to become custodians of learning outcomes. We are also working on leveraging technology for scale and standardization.
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