Designing curriculum tools and technology relevant to the specific learning needs of students is the first step towards successful engagement with affordable private schools. Working on the adoption of these tools and technologies to ensure that desired learning outcomes are met is then the real challenge.

As desirous as we are about producing results through specially designed material and methods, catering to the unique needs, demands and expectations of stakeholders (from children to parents through teachers and correspondents) while producing desired learning outcomes is a regular balancing act. For an education service provider to effectively work in this space, the fulcrum of its efforts has to be on strongly aligning them through constant attention and thoughtful engagement.

Curriculum tools and technologies for this space have to take into account the specific learning needs of first generation learners who enjoy no learning support in their home environments.

Some service providers have focussed on integrating tools that have normally been reserved for children with special needs. These strategies have included incorporation of songs, activities and extensive use of teaching aids. One service provider has been successful in demonstrating increased reading abilities through deployment of Phonics method.

Special care is also taken to use teaching aids that are inexpensive, easily replicable and those that children see and relate to in their daily life environs. Over and above these experiments with methods and material, some service providers have ventured into delivery in classrooms and have scratched the surface of differential and peer learning models.

Varied as the new methods and material designed and delivered by service providers have been, they bear a commonality in (i) teacher trainings being the primary mode of implementation and more importantly (ii) their departure from traditional methods of teaching in classrooms.

How do we align school correspondents, teachers and parents to this departure?

For school correspondents, expectations stem from parental demands. Why are my children learning sounds instead of alphabets? Why are my children not doing much homework? These are questions they field from parents on a daily basis. For these parents who are mostly daily wage earners spending a substantial part of their income to send their children to affordable private schools, learning outcomes translate into their children’s ability to speak, read and write better English. Research reveals that parents gauged their children’s learning outcomes through their ability to read billboards on the road and English line advertisements that scroll across the bottom of the television screens and the ability to demonstrate a few lines in English for their relatives and friends. More homework for children was perceived as high levels of teaching activity in schools. Seemingly ignorant parents are tough and demanding customers who school correspondents want to keep happy. Through regular parent teacher meetings that school correspondents are encouraged to organise, parental concerns are managed.

Beyond parental concerns and expectations, the biggest ground reality we have had to work with has been managing attitudinal challenges and constant attrition of teachers. Teacher training in itself has not proved to be enough. Retentive abilities are low and in most cases teachers continue with their traditional methods even after training. For delivery in classrooms, attrition also presents us with a break in continuity and for service providers there arises the need for constant re-training of new teachers.

While providing blue prints and lesson plans for teachers have proved to work largely, constant follow up from service providers through field trainers have been more successful. The elements of constant monitoring and sustained interaction have helped ease teachers into new methods.

The same approaches are needed for the alignment of school correspondents. Materials, tools and trainings are not enough. What the correspondent requires is for his teachers, parents and students to be aligned. And this can only be done through constant follow up, interaction and building a relationship based on sustained quality in delivery.

Building such relationships comes first. Business will follow.