Innovative Teaching Models Strengthen Education in India
Earlier this year, several members of the Global Education Fund (GEF) team went to India to listen to leading educators, NGOs and funders and begin to gain an understanding of what is needed for children living in poverty there to become better educated.
While India has significant pockets of success, it is also home to millions of impoverished children. Bonded labor, forced early marriage for girls, disease and poverty are hard realities for many children.
After the listening tour, GEF decided to award grants to several partners working in India. One such partner is Project Vision, led by Dr. Geetha Narayanan. Project Vision is currently being implemented at three learning centers for children from seven urban slum communities in Bangalore, India.
Dr. Narayanan developed Project Vision with MIT Media Labs based on the question “What would it be like if every student was given the same cognitive tools and advantages?”
Dr. Narayanan inspired us all with her trailblazing approaches to educating children living in poverty. She has taken the education curriculum she developed at traditional schools she founded – with learning through art, design, and environmental sustainability – to teach critical thinking and problem solving to children living in slums.
The curriculum takes “children where they are, now” and educates them in support of national test taking as well as skill building for livelihoods to become self-sufficient in their communities when they become adults.
Dr. Narayanan recently visited GEF in Boulder, Colorado, where she led a roundtable discussion with local education reformers and community leaders and shared her expertise on educating children living in urban poverty.
She visited education innovators at a local school and was the guest speaker at GEF’s annual gala in October.
Because of your support, Global Education Fund continues to seek out innovative approaches like Project Vision to educate children living in poverty.
