Boosting School Enrollment Through Micro-Improvements - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

The Aao School Chalein (School Enrollment Drive) initiative in Haryana addresses student enrollment challenges through a mrico-improvement (MI) approach and collaborative action. By empowering school leaders, leveraging technology, and using creative strategies to engage various stakeholders, it encourages community participation to boost student enrollment. This approach has the potential for collaborative, scalable solutions in addressing many education challenges, at scale.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

India, a diverse nation grappling with societal divisions including caste, religion, gender, and economic disparities, faces significant challenges in education. These divisions manifest in the educational arena, where despite well-intentioned policies, the state struggles with student enrollment. Economic constraints, lack of parental support, inadequate facilities such as washrooms (particularly affecting girls), and the scarcity of nearby high schools contribute to low enrollment rates.

To address these issues and uphold every child's right to education, the "Aao School Chalein" initiative was launched in Haryana. This statewide program aims to reverse declining student enrollment by engaging various stakeholders: district and block officials, school leaders, teachers, parents, students, and community members. The initiative employs a micro-improvement (MI) approach, breaking down the improvement process into manageable steps with tangible outcomes.

The primary goals include increasing student enrollment, actively involving stakeholders, and ensuring community participation to reduce dropout rates. This project benefits students by expanding educational opportunities and communities by fostering a more educated populace. Additionally, it enhances the professional environment for teachers and school leaders.

School leaders were empowered to systematically design, execute, and document micro-improvement projects focused on enrollment using DIKSHA, the national digital infrastructure for education. This documentation transformed DIKSHA into a valuable repository of best practices and innovations, serving as a shared resource for educators nationwide.

Key insights from this initiative include:

Reinforcing agency
Leveraging technology
Promoting collaborative action
Understanding the importance of celebration
Strategic media use
Planning for scalability

These insights are being shared with other states. Among others, Gujarat has also adopted the micro-improvement approach. Their "Apno Khajano" initiative promotes toy-based teaching to enhance classroom engagement and boost attendance.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

Launched during Haryana's admissions season, this program effectively utilized the micro-improvement approach to boost school enrollment by uniting diverse stakeholders. The initiative empowers participants through personalized improvement plans, allowing them to design and implement changes tailored to their specific needs and context.

Key features of the program include:

Prioritizing stakeholder engagement to foster community ownership and collaboration
Equipping district and block officials, along with school leaders, with technological tools to streamline the school improvement process
Training stakeholders in conducting effective school visits, community outreach, and home visits
Implementing strategic planning at the school level
Forming dedicated enrollment management teams
Optimizing communication through notice boards, social media engagement, and WhatsApp groups

This comprehensive approach ensured that all aspects of the enrollment process were addressed, from grassroots community involvement to leveraging modern communication channels.

What is the current status of your innovation?

Implementation of the program has resulted in a notable increase in enrollments, exceeding 10% in 21 schools out of 147 schools that were shortlisted after state-level evaluation, with the highest increase measured as 60% in one of the schools. Additionally, 24 schools experienced an enrollment increase of 10% or less. The effectiveness of the program is further evidenced by pictures and videos shared by various schools, showcasing the enthusiasm and dedication observed at the grassroot level enrollment drive.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

SCERT Haryana :
● Driving the initiative and its implementation
● Introduced the Micro Improvement (MI) approach

ShikshaLokam (a civil society organisation):
● Orientation of the project capability to design MI projects on DIKSHA
● Implementation support, evaluation and preparation for the closing event

DIKSHA-PMU Haryana:
● Platform orientation for the participants
● Brainstorming for outreach, ideas for program implementation & end-to-end support throughout the program

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

State Team, Block and District Officials:
● Co-designed and contextualized state/ district programs
● Got an opportunity to recognize the efforts of school leaders

School Leaders:
● Exercised agency to design their own improvement journey
● Harnessed state-level platform to share stories & best practices

Students:
● Participated in school-level and community-level events to create awareness regarding enrollments
● Were enrolled in schools, enhancing learning outcomes

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

● 800+ [out of 1190 schools] participated with 700+ MI projects submissions.
● In 21 [out of 147 high-need] schools, enrollments increased more than 10%, with a maximum enrollment increase of 60% in one school. In 24 schools, enrollments increased by 10% or less than 10%.
● Evaluation rubric both at state & district level included parameters such as % increase in enrollments, genuine evidence (pictures/ videos) attached for different activities undertaken and additional, innovative ideas implemented by the schools.
● School leaders were recognised for their efforts, enhancing the education ecosystem by showcasing their projects.
● The state ecosystem has become accustomed to the MI approach and is envisioning its application to solve more challenges.

Challenges and Failures

Due to their ongoing responsibilities, school leaders remain reluctant towards adopting new or innovative ideas. After awareness-raising meetings and orientations, they better understand the need for them and participate more actively.

Additionally, getting participants familiar with the entire process of using technology for submitting their projects was challenging. The state team organized regular calls with the participants to ensure familiarity, comfort and adoption. Along with this, WhatsApp groups were leveraged to spread the word and share best practices in the state education ecosystem. The team also visited a few schools and interacted with the school leaders to understand their progress and experience of participating in the program in order to customize the support.

Conditions for Success

1. The motivation and desire of the school leaders, block and district officials to actively participate in the program, use existing ideas and also share new ideas with other stakeholders.
2. The collaboration by school leaders, as well as block and district officials, with key stakeholders to encourage participation, including with parents, community members, school management committee (SMCs), and students.
3. Supporting digital and physical infrastructure which enabled the school leaders, teachers, as well as block and district officials to contribute and share their best ideas.
4. Resilient state leadership in addressing challenges and following a solution-oriented approach for managing implementation difficulties.

Replication

The state of Gujarat is applying the approach for one of their existing programs (Apno Khajano). It focuses on encouraging teachers to use toy-based pedagogy in classrooms and share these best practices on DIKSHA. They can contextualise projects as per their needs and collaborate with various stakeholders (parents, community members, teachers) to implement improvements effectively

In Haryana itself, the state launched another program, Tech Skill Club-Digital Mela, which focuses on spreading awareness about digital initiatives for the students from Grade 6th-12th. Digital initiatives encourage schools to form their own tech skill club and help students understand various digital innovations.

Lessons Learned

1. Agency Matters: Stakeholders owned the change process, enhancing the enrollment figures.
2. Technology as an enabler: Platforms like DIKSHA ensure visibility into the impact that enables informed decisions being made across the system.
3. Promote collaboration: Providing clear orientations & support for active district/state team involvement helps build shared vision.
4. Strategic Media Use: Effectively use media for creating awareness, sharing success stories & encouraging participation.
5. Planning for Scalability: Design initiatives with scalability in mind for sustained impact.

Anything Else?

The on-ground implementation by the targeted stakeholders and parallel digital documentation on DIKSHA greatly helped school leaders to implement activities to increase enrolments. It also gave an opportunity to showcase and document best practices.