Transforming public education through government partnerships – A reflection from Mantra4Change’s journey of working with the government

Introduction The government is the primary provider of public education. It plays a critical role in shaping the education system. Despite significant progress in recent years, India still has millions of children who are out of school. According to a recent report (titled “State of the World’s Children 2021”) by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), there are approximately six (6) million children out of school in India. This represents about 2.8% of the global population of out-of-school children.

Additionally, many children drop out before completing their primary education. According to the 2021-22 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by Pratham, the dropout rate for children in the age group of 11-14 years in India is 13.2%. This means that 13.2% of children in this age group, who were enrolled in school in 2021, had dropped out by 2022.

Even children who are enrolled in school often do not receive a quality education. This is due to several factors. These include a shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate infrastructure, and a lack of focus on learning outcomes.

The situation becomes worse when children from marginalized groups, such as girls, children from lower castes, and children with disabilities, are disproportionately affected by the education crisis. Government of India is committed to improving education.

However, it cannot achieve these goals alone. The diversity, urgency and scale of the challenge are simply too great. Systemic transformation is essential to achieve the vision of quality education for all.

Mantra4Change’s vision is to create an India where all children have access to quality education, regardless of their background or circumstances. We believe working with the government is critical in achieving this vision.

We have worked with governments in several states, including Karnataka, Punjab, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. We have seen firsthand the power of CSO-government collaborations to solve complex educational challenges. This essay will discuss the importance of CSO-government collaborations for educational change.

It will draw on Mantra4Change’s experience to illustrate how CSOs can work with the government to solve educational challenges and improve students’ learning outcomes.

Working with the government

Working in collaboration with the government, particularly in a complex and diverse nation like India, holds significance for many reasons. First, the government serves as the principal provider of public education and is inherently positioned to transform the education system. It wields the power to enact policies and initiatives.

This makes it an indispensable partner in efforts for systemic reforms. The formal recognition within NEP 2020 magnifies the importance of engaging with the government in discussions and actions to improve education.

Moreover, collaborating with the government can significantly amplify the reach and impact of any initiative. Governments possess the expansive infrastructure and resources necessary to influence the lives of millions.

According to Ministry of Education, Government of India, in 2022 there are 10.2 million government schools in the country, catering to over 250 million children.

Furthermore, addressing the education crisis in India necessitates a holistic and multifaceted approach. CSOs alone may lack the capacity to address the diverse range of challenges that hinder quality education. These challenges include inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages, and learning outcome deficits. Working with the government provides access to the scale, resources, and policy-making influence needed to tackle these multifaceted issues comprehensively.

Government of India’s commitment to improving education, as evidenced by its focus on foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN), 21st-century skills, vocational training, etc., opens avenues for CSOs to complement these priorities and offer innovative, context specific solutions.

By fostering collaboration, building trust, and aligning with governmental goals, CSOs can drive systemic transformation and advance the vision of quality education for all, regardless of background or circumstances.

Through our experience in Mantra4Change’s initiatives across several Indian states, we have seen how collaborative efforts with the government can produce tangible results in addressing complex educational challenges. Working with the government is a strategic choice for us. It is also a moral imperative for systemic transformation.

The Punjab story of government partnership

The debut: In July 2019, four organizations, Sanjhi Sikhiya, ShikshaLokam, Mantra4Change & Samarthya, collectively approached the Department of School Education, Punjab, with an aim to contribute to the education system and a passion for supporting Punjab as a state. They did not go in with ready-to-implement plans.

Rather, they went in with curiosity to learn, experiences to build on, and a willingness to cocreate with the government. Fortuitously, they were met with the same energy. “Study the department and the schools first, then come in with a plan,” was the response they first got on approaching department officials.

Added to this was another key piece of advice that informed the design and work from then to date. The recommendation was to focus on “+1” or incremental improvements in the existing system, which make a big difference in the long run.

The study: The collective followed the advice and did just that. They spent the initial weeks understanding the strengths, challenges and realities of state-level actors and initiatives and school-level challenges. The study helped discover great assets that the public school system already had. These includes policies, people, and innovative structures. The study also helped in identifying underlying challenges. These related to usage of technology, and focused capacity enhancement of leadership, etc.

The gallery walk: At the end of this period, the collective came up with a list of 25+ ideas, which were “+1” innovations. These were simple, yet powerful ideas for improving schools. Instead of going a traditional route, the collective shared these ideas through a gallery walk. Chart papers with drawings and post-it notes displayed the different ideas.

Officials were intrigued by this innovative approach. They walked from one corner of the room to another. They engaged with each new idea as they moved. Walking to ideas and looking at chart papers also gave a more welcoming space for officials to interact with and share their feedback on the ideas being shared. While the collective had hoped for a go ahead on the top 4-5 ideas, they were told to pursue all of them! At the end of the meeting, the organizations received advice that they all keep close to their hearts to this day.

“There are already thousands of people in the department. We don’t need you to become an extended arm. Instead, you need to be a catalyst. Support and motivate the existing people and systems to raise the bars of excellence”.

Full speed ahead: Working toward all of this was a big challenge. It required all the four organizations to come together and work toward a common goal. These CSOs took on the challenge. They agreed to come together with the education department. Together they formed the Punjab Education Collective in August 2019.

The objective was to transform the public education system of Punjab by identifying challenges faced by the stakeholders on the ground. A related goal was to co-create solutions with the state education department to address them. The overall aim was to improve the health of the education system.

Cut to December 2022, The Punjab Education Collective received “The Collective Social Innovation Award” from Schwab Foundation at World Economic Forum, for impacting 2.3 million students across 19,000 government schools in the state.

What we learned while working with the government

Know the actors: Understanding the intricacies of the hierarchical and multifaceted government system is important for CSOs for successful partnerships. It is important to identify the key actors.

However, it is essential to delve deeper into their roles, responsibilities, and the extent of their influence and functions within the system as well. Moreover, going beyond the surface level, and building genuine personal connections with these individuals is equally crucial.

Having kindness and empathy in these interactions is important. It is about recognizing that the people in the government are more than just state representatives. They are human beings operating within a complex system, possibly dealing with their own reservations and struggles. Building these genuine relationships is a key lesson we have gained from our experiences in collaborating with the government.

See the complete picture: Taking a holistic perspective is important when engaging with the government. While it is natural for CSOs to primarily focus on their specific programs and their successful implementation, it is crucial to acknowledge that the government operates within a much broader context.

Beyond program implementation, the government must have considerations that include familiarity with the allocated state budget, adherence to policy mandates, coordination with various institutions, and knowing the political will.

By adopting this comprehensive outlook, we have gained a deeper appreciation of the systemic landscape within which governments function.

Be in the background: In the five states we have worked in so far with the government system, we have always been in the background and played a supporting role. This has ensured that we are non-threatening to the government’s visibility to the public.

Building relationships with key government officials within the system, who can advocate for your ideas, is also important. No matter how influential your organization is, there will come a time when you require the support of individuals within the system who share your vision and are willing to champion your ideas from within.

Know your role: A CSO might successfully establish a partnership with the government and yet not contribute meaningfully. Why does this happen? While there may also be other reasons, one main reason is not knowing our role as CSOs. Like any partnership, one should know what one’s role is in the partnership. We have identified three critical roles that CSOs can play in a government partnership.

Problem solver and innovator: CSOs are expected to actively bring innovative solutions and exemplify best practices that the government can adopt as models. The government often acknowledges, and sometimes implements, CSO-generated ideas or at least gives them due consideration. Implementer: CSOs are seen as having the necessary manpower and resources to provide last-mile connectivity, where the government often falls short. CSOs’ flexibility and experience in the field are thought to expedite the governance process, making implementation successful.

Translator: CSOs are also seen as translators. First, because CSOs work at local levels, some are seen as well-versed in local languages and able to deliver the government’s message to the people more clearly than the government could (Syal, van Wessel and Sahoo, 2021). Second, CSOs are seen as intermediaries between the government and the people, providing twoway feedback.

Optimizing existing structures: Another thing that has worked for us is integrating and optimizing existing programs and structures rather than creating new ones. For example, suppose the government has an established 15-day in-service training for teachers. In that case, the more effective approach is to tailor your training to align with this existing framework, rather than suggesting a separate 20-day training program. This customization strategy and alignment with existing government initiatives ensures efficiency and minimizes duplication, ultimately enhancing the impact of collaborative efforts.

Government’s priority is our priority: Over the past three years, state governments have made “foundational literacy and numeracy” a top priority. Consequently, our focus has been on introducing innovative and contextspecific solutions to achieve this objective. Reading campaign in Punjab, PadheBihar Badhe Bihar, etc., are our programs designed seeing the governments’ priority. Governments have their own sets of goals and objectives. It can be difficult to get them to adopt new ideas or programs not aligned with their priorities. Understanding governments’ priorities, and developing programs and solutions aligned with them, is important.

Designing for scale: What works at scale? Something that is easy, simple, achievable, and can be easily contextualized. As an organization, we have been successful in scaling our micro-improvement projects in the states we work. Micro-improvements cater to the objective of making the improvement process easy, simple and achievable for every stakeholder in the system. It is an approach that helps the stakeholder to break down a big idea into clear actionable tasks and modify it to suit their context.

The frequent wins that we experience through micro-level changes in schools eventually feed into a continuous improvement cycle across the education system. Making micro improvements each day, repetitively, over a period of time will also lead to compounding growth. This can potentially create mega impact across the system that is visible. This can also motivate the stakeholders. Thus, it brings a huge opportunity to scale these small improvements for the larger system.

Design for sustainability: There is an advantage to the “slowness” of the govt system. It may not be quick to implement changes. That is something that we need to work toward as well (and not just challenge it!). In other words, we need to design in a way, so that new practices become the new status quo and are integrated into key structures and policies of the government. For example, once teachers and leaders started becoming comfortable with using DIKSHA in Bihar, the department welcomed new programs leveraging DIKSHA. It also came up with ways to leverage the platform in other existing programs.

Challenges of working with the government

The system is slow: Working with the government for systemic transformation in India is a challenging task. The government, both at the central and state levels, is a large and complex bureaucracy. It has multiple stakeholders with their different interests. It can be difficult to navigate the system and get things done quickly. Additionally, the government often has a short attention span, wants to reduce duplication, has less appetite for risk, and has a higher certainty of success. This can make it difficult to implement and innovate any long-term solutions in a short period.

Data accessibility: An unavoidable challenge in collaborating with the government is the constrained accessibility of essential data. Many government agencies operate with vast data reserves. However, this resource often remains locked in silos. This makes it challenging to access and utilize data effectively. Additionally, the data may be scattered across various departments and institutions. This often results in a lack of cohesion.

Usability and visibility of data: Even when data is accessible, its usability can be hampered by inconsistent formats and a lack of standardization. Furthermore, there is often a need for more transparency and visibility regarding data dissemination. This hinders the government’s internal operations, and limits the ability of external partners, such as CSOs, to leverage the data effectively. Gaining access to data is important for informed decision-making and implementing effective solutions. However, challenges surrounding data availability, usability and visibility pose substantial barriers to collaborations with governments.

Conclusion

Partnering with the government is not merely an option. It is a compelling imperative for systemic transformation in India’s diverse education landscape. The government’s unparalleled reach, resources, and policy-making authority make it an indispensable ally in addressing the system’s multifaceted challenges. While working with the government presents its share of challenges, the potential for positive impact surpasses these hurdles. The government’s commitment to improving education aligns with the aspirations of many CSOs like Mantra4Change, who strive to ensure quality education. By building trust, fostering collaboration, and complementing governmental efforts, CSOs can play an important role in driving systemic reform and expanding access to quality education throughout India.

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