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Impact Areas

CSF: India’s Leading Education Organisation, from Innovation to Policy to Practice, at Scale

CSF’s vision: Ensuring quality school education for children in India through system-led reform

Technology in Education

Early Childhood Education

Foundational Learning

Our network of Donors & Partners

Our Approach

Work with Governments to improve Student Learning at scale

Research and Evidence based interventions with focus on reliable Assessments

Integrated Coalition approach, in partnership with ecosystem organisations

Critical role in salience and surround sound of FLN reform in education in India:

NEP 2020 to NIPUN Bharat to State FLN Missions

Schools Governance

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EdTech at CSF has a Four-Pronged Strategy

Shape EdTech Supply

Create Public Goods

Drive EdTech Adoption

Ensure availability of high quality EdTech for low-income settings, across multiple use cases such as remote learning for FLN, personalised adaptive learning

Generate Evidence

EdTech Strategy

Create a body of evidence on efficacy of EdTech solutions and programs by testing what works across a product-programme-scale spectrum

Increase salience for EdTech uptake & adoption through research and advocacy; provide support to governments for EdTech implementation

Fund creation of public goods to enable the ecosystem to operate more effectively - EdTech Tulna, TicTacLearn, BaSE - Bharat EdTech Survey, Reimagine Education Through Technology, EdTech for India report

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LiftEd EdTech Accelerator Context and Approach

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The status of EdTech for FLN at the time of conceptualization of the Accelerator

Ecosystem
Lack of standards for what good looks like in EdTech exacerbates information asymmetry and hampers decision-making Limited evidence on what works and how is a barrier to effective/impactful adoption and implementation Limited awareness about the low income segment is a great inhibitor for product companies

Institutional

Retail

1: Tracxn; 2: Internal landscaping/benchmarking of 35 products; 3: Bharat Survey for EdTech (CSF, 2022)

Supply
India has a vibrant EdTech ecosystem (15.3K companies as of 2024)¹. Yet, only ~1% focus on FLN, with even fewer solutions built for India 3²� Interesting operating models emerged during COVID in the non-profit space. E.g. WhatsApp-based delivery, government-anchored distribution pathways, high engagement community models etc. � The for-profit ecosystem is willing to dip its toes in the segment, with many companies setting up social impact verticals. E.g. BYJU’s Education for All initiative, and Toppr’s ASHA program. � Engagement is a tough nut to crack, especially for remote learning due to high-drop offs and limited retention

Demand
	Increasing awareness among govt. as remote learning was mainstay of education during COVID, however device access/connectivity cited as reasons to dismiss EdTech Govt. continues to remain non- commital to EdTech in FLN, with no budget lines in the SSA Govt. procurement cumbersome and prohibitive for many to engage with
	With ~120 mn children in grades 1-5, India presents an opportunity to scale remote learning for FLN via EdTech 72% children from low-income households have access to a shared device and 74% spend more than 30 mins per day on their parents’ smartphones³. However, parental awareness around technology delivered learning pre-pandemic was low Willingness to pay for EdTech in low income households yet to be explored

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Convergence of demand, supply and ecosystem enablers are critical for EdTech driven foundational learning supported by a consortium of partners

Supply
Need to catalyse robust supply of remote learning FLN solutions for low-income segments by providing patient funding Iterate and experiment with solutions to address key issues in low-income contexts, eg. on scale, engagement and contextualisation

Ecosystem
Efforts are needed to build robust body of evidence on the impact of remote learning products via structured impact studies

Demand
Build salience to institutionalize remote learning within state governments and support with adoption to enable Edtechs to scale Explore innovative partnerships on the retail side to enable alternate pathways of last-mile reach and engagement

A consortium of marquee philanthropies came together as part of LiftEd EdTech Accelerator initiative to promote access to and use of high-quality and contextually relevant EdTech solutions in FLN to encourage at-home learning

Consortium of partners

Founding partners

Program leader

Design & Implementation partner

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Establish impact of these solutions on learning outcomes through rigorous qualitative and quantitative evaluations

~2.5 Million children from low-income segments have access to high-quality, pedagogically sound contextually relevant solutions for remote learning

Duration

1a. Reach

April 2023 to March 2025

A vibrant ecosystem of 7 Edtech players serving FLN needs in low-income segment

2 promising solutions are scaled

1b. Supply

2. Demand

Remote learning is adopted by 4-6 States, with some running remote learning programs at scale

1-2 unique models of scaling in the retail space are identified

The Accelerator aimed to build a vibrant EdTech sector to improve foundational learning among children from the low-income segment in India by addressing challenges in supply, demand & at the ecosystem level

Goals

The LiftEd EdTech Accelerator envisaged to energise the EdTech ecosystem and achieve critical goals by 2025

3. Evidence

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1a and 1b - Reach and Supply

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BIG Picture: Where has the LiftEd Accelerator reached?

Users Reached by the Overall Accelerator Portfolio*

Users Benefitting from Accelerator Features*

Reaching users in 20+ states

*This includes users carried forward from AY 23-24 to AY 24-25

5.5 Million +

3 Million +

Reach: from April '23 to March '25

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply

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The Details: Monthly usage

50% of activated users engaging on a monthly basis

Monthly Active Users

50%

Monthly Active Users

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply

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The Details: Weekly usage

50% of the monthly active users turning into weekly active users

Monthly usage on EdTech products driven by users coming and engaging for at least 2+ weeks on average in the month

50%

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply

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The Details: Weekly engagement time

weekly engaged users engaging for 30+ mins/week

an average weekly engagement time across the portfolio of partners at ~60 mins/week

30+ mins

2 to 30 mins

57%

43%

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply

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Organizations that are excited to discover and unlock new pathways to scale their solution

Organizations that are keen to discover pathways to deepen engagement for their product

Organizations that want to build pedagogically sound and contextually relevant solutions specifically for low income India

Scale

Engagement

Product Contextualisation

Scale	Engagement	Contextualization
Unlocked scale through the new pathway as part of Accelerator intervention	Increased average weekly engagement time on the product as part of Accelerator intervention	Readiness of contextualized product as part of Accelerator intervention

The north star metrics for each EdTech partner are defined basis their particular cohort

Cohorts were identified based on experience with the most sticky problems in the EdTech ecosystem in India

The Accelerator leveraged a cohort based philosophy

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply

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Masterclasses

Masterclasses on specific need-based topics, providing partners in-depth learning opportunities , with access to otherwise inaccessible industry experts and thought leaders.

Tailored interactive workshops led by experts aim to enhance partner knowledge and provide practical tools. Each workshop focuses on a specific topic, includes relevant cases for participants to work through, a series of sessions/ workshops per topic.

Capacity Building Workshops

To unlock the full potential of EdTech partners, support is being provided through masterclasses, capacity building workshops, and personalized 1:1 mentorship

Personalized 1:1 mentoring, through carefully selected 8 domain-specific mentors to align with each EdTech partner's unique problem statements

1:1 Mentorship

Effective Fundraising Strategies

Data-driven Decision Making for EdTechs with Prof. Ryan Baker

Unlocking Scale (though B2G pathways)

Digital Safety for Children

Each EdTech partner on the portfolio came up with problem statements on the basis of which they’ve been mapped to mentors in the same space

1a and 1b. Reach and Supply: Capacity Building and Mentorship

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Adoption/Institutionalisation of home learning unlocked across 4+ states over the last 2 years through district/state level partnerships

2. Demand

Chimple unlocked a partnership in Ghaziabad and launched across 75 schools in Bhojpur block.

ThinkZone pivoted from a community model and unlocked government partnerships in 4 districts in Odisha - Jhajpur, Cuttack, Puri, and Dhenkanal

Unlocked digital home learning program in Madhya Pradesh. Currently the program is undergoing revisions post National Achievement Survey (NAS.)

Home learning institutionalisation unlocked in Telangana. Separate budget allocated by the state towards home learning program. Program is undergoing a name change and is awaiting approvals post elections

Institutionalisation

Adoption

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Partners

Partnership unlocked with Hand in Hand (HiH) to distribute EdTech through their self help group (SHGs) network to improve FLN skills of children from low-income families

Objective: Leveraging WhatsApp group cascade and offline HiH field staff to reach cluster level networks (CLNs) & self help groups (SHGs) to reach the last mile SHG WhatsApp groups – to drive access and engagement with EdTech for their children’s FLN journey

Hand in Hand

Field Offices

(WA groups)

Cluster Level Network (CLN WA groups)

Self Help Groups (SHGs WA groups)

Last-mile SHGs

(WA groups) in:

Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh

Programme & Data Monitoring

Hand in Hand

SHG Team

Offline interventions:

Monthly meeting + follow-ups + distribution of rewards via district level events

2. Demand

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3. Evidence

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The LiftEd Accelerator seeks to generate robust quantitative and qualitative evidence around EdTech for FLN at home


Quantitative	Qualitative
Learning Outcome Evaluation	Insights from User Experience	Impact of Acceleration
Difference-in-difference study to test the impact of EdTech solutions on learning outcomes	Qualitative study of EdTech user’s experience across different phases of their user journey	Qualitative study to assess the effectiveness of support provided by the Accelerator
Educational Initiatives	Sambodhi Private Limited

LiftEd Accelerator Evaluation anchored by Principal Investigator,

Prof Tarun Jain from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

3. Evidence

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