The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

As the movement develops, Shikshagraha will be measuring its impact on four levels. At the network level, they will measure the number of partners and the volume of their interactions. At the systems level, they will measure the number of districts impacted, the number of organizations onboarded, the number of convenings organized and the number of tools and knowledge assets developed. At the school level, they will measure increased average attendance, percentage of students achieving grade-level reading outcomes and percentage of students able to perform grade level mathematical operations. At the student level, they will measure percentage of students showing improvement on national exams, percentage improvement in attendance and percentage improvement in enrolment. Although India has a strong culture of reading, issues like unequal access to books that are contextually relevant for different communities negatively affect reading outcomes. In an effort to overcome these disparities, the Indian National Department of Education launched a campaign to improve foundational literacy across the country in 2021. Building on the concept of micro-improvements, in 2022, the Punjab Education Collective (PEC) launched a project focused on improving foundational reading skills in the Shri Muktsar Sahib district of Punjab. Shri Muktsar Sahib is one of 10 low performing districts (LPD), according to the National Achievement Survey (NAS). Together with district administrators, PEC designed a “reading mela”, a festival of reading in which teachers, students, families and communities join together to celebrate reading. During this festival, head teachers created spaces for students to showcase their reading while engaging parents and other community members to celebrate student reading achievements. The project covered 326 primary schools with a total 40,710 students. To roll out the project, PEC created a step-by-step guide which was hosted on the national digital platform, DIKSHA, which enables all head teachers to access common materials. Head teachers were also provided with activities and resource materials that were focused on the project. At the same time, district and block leaders provided mentoring support to schools hosting the festivals. Schools implemented the project for a three-week period. A total of 70% of head teachers initiated the project and 52% successfully submitted the project. The project resulted in significant reading improvements from the pre-project baseline. Key observations from head teachers included: 1) students developed an interest in reading different books along with confidence skills to express themselves; 2) teachers became more conscious of children’s learning needs; 3) teachers worked as teams to make the project successful; and 4) parents and community members became active participants in student reading activities. Based on the success of the project, reading melas are now spreading to different geographies enabled by Shikshagraha partners.CASE STORY A reading mela in Shri Muktsar Sahib District, Punjab Baseline (%) Endline (%)0%10%20%30%40%50% 00000000 0000 00 000000 Read 45-60 words in a minute Read 20-45 words in a minute Read less than 20 words in a minute30.89% 25.24%26.54%37.40%43.87% 36.06% Source: Adapted from Mantra. (2022). Reading Campaign: A Case Sutdy of Micro Improvement Project in Punjab. https://www.mantra4change.org/reading-campaign-a-case-study-of-micro-improvement-project-in-punjab/. The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 47