Gyan Shala
Meet Julekhabanu: Grade 3
Meet Dharmesh: Grade 10
Insaan Evaluation
INSAAN PORTFOLIO: INDIA
Gyan Shala designs highly structured curricula to deliver low-cost, quality education to children living in slums in India. Starting with 10 classes in 2000, Gyan Shala has emerged as one of the largest non-government school education programs in four Indian states, ensuring high learning outcomes for around 30,000 urban slum children in 2018, at a modest average cost ranging from US$4 to US$ 8 per child per month (for elementary and middle schooling), with some variance based on grade, location and exchange rate. These costs are all inclusive, covering teaching, class room rentals, learning materials management, training and curriculum design. Gyan Shala’s cost structure is around 1/3 of the cost of government schools, and even lower compared to élite private schools, whose quality Gyan Shala is nearly matching and/or aspiring to as a benchmark. This in itself is remarkable given the socio-economic context of students, often compounded by cultural constraints, particularly around girls’ education which Gyan Shala teachers and team work hard to overcome. Out of the 30,000 students enrolled in 2018 in Gyan Shala, close to 45% continued in Gyan Shala schools to the next grade (when available), about 35% mainstreamed into government schools, around 13% migrated back to their villages and some 7% dropped out.
23
Visit Site