India’s public education system is immense, serving over 250 million children through 1.5 million schools. Yet challenges persist. According to the UNESCO No teacher, no class: state of the education report for India, 2021, only 19% of schools across India had access to the internet, which is crucial for online training and educational resources. Learning gaps, particularly in foundational literacy and numeracy, have widened since the pandemic. Infrastructure gaps remain stark—rural schools lack functional labs, and many operate with multigrade classrooms.
But these are not just issues of logistics. Teachers often feel unsupported, students disengaged, and communities disconnected. Education has become a system many participate in but few truly benefit from.
The Smile Foundation approach: Reimagining government schools
Smile Foundation’s School Transformation Programme (STP) doesn’t begin with infrastructure—it begins with people. Teachers, students, school leaders, and local communities are at the heart of its model. Drawing on principles of constructivist pedagogy, teacher empowerment, and school-based governance, the programme focuses on transforming teaching practices, building professional learning communities, and integrating 21st-century skills into everyday learning.
The initiative was first rolled out in collaboration with district education departments, DIETs (District Institutes of Education and Training), and other partners. A co-creation model ensured that district officials and school leadership participated in shaping every stage—from curriculum alignment and needs assessments to classroom mentoring and school monitoring frameworks.
Sushanta Kumar Bhuyan, Director of Programmes at Smile Foundation. “Our job isn’t to replace the system, but to catalyze what’s already there—build confidence, build continuity, and build champions from within.”
The architecture of change in School Transformation Programme
The programme follows a three-phase implementation strategy over three years:
- Year 1: Foundation & Assessment – A deep-dive needs assessment, convergence workshops with stakeholders, and baseline evaluations are carried out. Master Trainers (MTs) are selected and trained to lead from within the ecosystem.
- Year 2: Implementation & Monitoring – MTs cascade training to teachers using a peer-coaching model. Classroom visits, feedback loops, and student assessments anchor continuous improvement.
- Year 3: Refinement & Scale – Successful innovations are scaled to other schools. Governance structures like DIET and SECRET embed the programme into state-level education planning.
At the classroom level, STP introduces activity-based learning, project work, digital literacy modules, and structured life skills sessions. The emphasis is on learning by doing—from building solar fans and water filters to simulating local budget decisions.
Teacher leadership
One of the most striking features of Smile’s STP is its reimagining of the teacher’s role, not as a deliverer of content, but as a facilitator, innovator, and mentor. Master Trainers are not external experts but teachers from within the system who receive sustained mentoring themselves.
In India, Smile Foundation’s implementation has already resulted in:
- Hundreds of teachers trained in constructivist pedagogy
- Increase in the adoption of group-based learning strategies
- Teacher-led innovations being documented and shared across schools
“Teachers told us they felt seen for the first time, someone invested in their growth, not just student results,” Sushanta notes.
A focus on holistic learning
Beyond academics, STP prioritizes emotional safety, gender inclusion, and student well-being. In many pilot schools, Smile Foundation has introduced gender-sensitization workshops, student voice councils, and school climate indicators into monitoring frameworks.
Some studies suggest that schools with student leadership mechanisms and psychosocial support had better retention and significantly lower absenteeism. Smile Foundation’s schools have echoed this: during focus group discussions, girls reported feeling “more confident to ask questions and lead activities” post-intervention.
Data that drives dialogue
Unlike many interventions that focus only on inputs, STP is rigorously tracked. Smile Foundation has developed school-level monitoring tools that capture not only infrastructure and attendance, but also teaching quality, student engagement, and community involvement.
These insights feed into quarterly reflection cycles, where teachers and school heads meet to discuss trends, troubleshoot, and share practices. This evidence-to-action loop has helped ensure that the programme evolves with local needs, not against them.
Outcomes and early impact
The early results have been encouraging. Across STP-implemented clusters:
- Student attendance has increased, particularly in schools with active innovation clubs
- Adoption of experiential and group-based learning practices has tripled
- Girls’ participation in STEM-related activities has seen a a significant rise
- Community engagement in school development plans has grown, with schools reporting active parent participation in planning meetings
These statistics reflect a shift in belief. A belief that government schools can become aspirational spaces when given the right scaffolding.
Lessons for the education community from our School Transformation Programme
Smile Foundation’s STP offers valuable lessons for various stakeholders working in the field of education:
- Systems reform doesn’t need to start big but it must start with those who live it daily: teachers and students.
- Capacity-building must be local, sustained, and recognition-driven, not one-off.
- Data must empower schools, not just track them.
- Holistic outcomes like gender inclusion, psychosocial well-being, and more must be integrated into learning goals.
This programme stands in sharp contrast to one-size-fits-all interventions. It is responsive, inclusive, and deliberately paced—focusing on quality before scale.
Scaling up
As Smile Foundation prepares to expand the programme to new districts in partnership with state governments, the emphasis remains on local ownership and institutional embedding. By integrating with DIET-led teacher education plans and ensuring alignment with Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the programme is poised for sustainable scaling.
As Sushanta summed up, “This is a sustained effort for dignity, relevance, and belief in public education.”
