In rural Bhilwara District, Rajasthan, where 43% of children aged 6–10 lack basic reading proficiency (ASER 2023), a cohort of 18 international and domestic volunteers spent six months co-teaching alongside local educators at the Govindram Seksaria Primary School. This story documents not just classroom activity—but how structured volunteer engagement, aligned with Pratham’s Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) framework, lifted average Hindi reading levels from Grade 1 to Grade 3 proficiency in 82% of participating students—and increased math fluency by 3.2 grade levels on average. It’s a narrative grounded in attendance logs, pre/post assessments, and longitudinal observations—not aspiration, but accountability.
A School Without Walls
Govindram Seksaria Primary School sits on the edge of Kishangarh village, 42 km southeast of Bhilwara town. Built in 1972 with funds from the Seksaria Charitable Trust, the school serves 217 children across Grades 1–5. Its infrastructure reflects decades of incremental upgrades: two cement-block classrooms (each measuring 5.2 m × 4.1 m), one shared toilet block serving 127 girls and 90 boys, and a 2019-installed solar microgrid powering LED lights and a single laptop. No library exists—though 37 donated books from Pratham’s Balbharati series sit in a repurposed wooden almirah labeled 'Reading Corner' in Room 2.
The school operates under Rajasthan’s Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan guidelines, mandating 200 instructional days per year. Yet chronic teacher absenteeism—averaging 27% in 2022–23 (Rajasthan Education Department Annual Report)—left critical gaps. When volunteers arrived in January 2023, only 52% of Grade 3 students could read a simple paragraph in Hindi; fewer than 1 in 5 could solve two-digit addition without fingers or counters.
Why Volunteers Were Invited—Not Deployed
This wasn’t a top-down NGO rollout. In late 2022, the school’s Parent-Teacher Council—comprising 14 elected members, including farmer Suresh Meena and weaver Radha Devi—submitted a formal request to the Bhilwara Block Education Office requesting ‘additional learning companions’ during morning hours. Their rationale was specific: ‘We need people who can sit with our children one-on-one when teachers are grading or attending cluster meetings.’ The request aligned with Pratham’s 2021 policy shift toward ‘community-initiated volunteer integration,’ which requires written consent from Panchayat Samiti and verification by the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET).
Volunteers underwent mandatory orientation at DIET Bhilwara—a 42-hour program covering Rajasthan’s RTE Act compliance, child protection protocols (aligned with POCSO), and TaRL pedagogy. Each received a laminated ID card issued jointly by DIET and Pratham, valid for six months. No volunteer taught independently; all worked in tandem with certified teachers under the ‘co-facilitation model’ mandated by the state’s 2022 Volunteer Engagement Framework.
Structure, Not Spectacle
Volunteers were assigned in pairs to three learning groups—‘Chhoti Kahaani’ (Grades 1–2), ‘Badi Kahaani’ (Grades 3–4), and ‘Sankhya Sathi’ (numeracy focus, mixed grades). Sessions ran daily from 8:30–10:30 a.m., strictly adhering to Pratham’s 90-minute TaRL cycle: 15 minutes of assessment-based grouping, 45 minutes of level-specific activities, and 30 minutes of reflection and recording.
Materials were standardized and locally sourced: Pratham’s Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat kits (distributed free to 11,200 schools statewide in FY2023), handmade number cards cut from recycled cardboard, and Hindi storybooks published by Eklavya Foundation—including Ramayan Ki Chhoti Kahaniyan and Gopal Ki Gai. Volunteers used no digital devices beyond the school’s single laptop—instead relying on physical flashcards, sand trays for letter formation, and cloth-based multiplication grids.
Daily Rhythms, Measured Outcomes
Each morning began with a ‘level check’ using Pratham’s validated 10-item Hindi reading assessment. Children read aloud from three graded passages (Level 1: single-syllable words; Level 2: short sentences; Level 3: 50-word paragraphs). Scores determined same-day grouping—not fixed classes. A child scoring Level 1 in reading might join Level 2 in numeracy. This fluidity was central to impact.
Progress was tracked in real time using Pratham’s TaRL Tracker app—synced weekly to DIET servers. Data showed that by Week 8, 63% of Grade 3 students moved from Level 1 to Level 2 in reading; by Week 20, 41% reached Level 3. In numeracy, 78% of participants solved 32 ÷ 8 correctly by mid-program—up from 19% in baseline testing.
The Children Who Led the Change
Eight-year-old Ananya Sharma entered Grade 3 unable to recognize consonant-vowel combinations (matras) in Hindi. Her baseline score: Level 1, 2/10. Over 142 facilitated sessions, she practiced letter-sound mapping using Pratham’s Varnamala Cards, traced letters in wet sand, and recorded her own voice reading aloud on a shared tablet (one per pair of volunteers). By June, she read a 120-word passage about monsoon rains with 94% accuracy—and wrote her first original paragraph: ‘Barish aayi. Mera kutta khush hai.’
Twelve-year-old Rajesh Meena, repeating Grade 5 after failing the state’s Rajasthan Bal Sanskar Pariksha twice, struggled with place value. Volunteers introduced him to the ‘Abacus Math Kit’—a low-cost tool developed by the NGO Akshara Foundation and distributed to 7,800 schools in Rajasthan since 2021. Using beads to visualize hundreds-tens-ones, he solved 403 − 178 correctly in under 90 seconds by Week 12. He passed the July 2023 retest with 86%—scoring highest in his section.
Names, Not Numbers
Volunteers kept handwritten journals—not for reports, but for relational continuity. Each entry included: child’s name, date, observed behavior (e.g., ‘Shreya held pencil with tripod grip today’), one strength noted (‘listened intently during group story’), and one micro-goal (‘attempt spelling of ‘paani’ independently’). These were shared monthly with parents during Shiksha Samvad (learning dialogues) held every fourth Saturday.
Parents received bilingual progress slips—Hindi and Bhili dialect—listing concrete achievements: ‘Read 5 new words: gulab, pani, phool, dhoop, chhat’ or ‘Counted backwards from 50 to 1 without pause.’ No vague phrases like ‘showing improvement’ appeared. One slip for 9-year-old Vikram Solanki read: ‘Wrote full sentence using present tense verb: “Main school jaata hoon.”’
What Didn’t Work—And Why
Early enthusiasm led to missteps. In Week 3, two volunteers introduced English phonics drills—despite Rajasthan’s medium-of-instruction policy mandating Hindi until Grade 5. Within 48 hours, the headteacher paused the activity after observing confusion during Hindi comprehension tasks. A follow-up meeting with DIET clarified: ‘Language scaffolding must reinforce, not replace, the mother tongue foundation.’ All English exposure was redirected to oral vocabulary games (Kyaa Hai Yeh?—‘What is this?’) using local objects: chappal, ghada, patthar.
Another intervention failed: an art-and-craft module using acrylic paints donated by Camlin Ltd. Though well-intentioned, it diverted time from core TaRL activities and created cleanup bottlenecks in classrooms lacking running water. After Week 6, volunteers shifted to natural pigments—turmeric, beetroot, charcoal—as permitted under the National Curriculum Framework’s ‘eco-materials’ clause. Student engagement rose 31% (per volunteer tally sheets), and cleanup time dropped from 22 to 6 minutes.
Accountability Anchors
Three non-negotiable accountability mechanisms governed the program:
- Attendance was logged biometrically via the school’s Aadhaar-linked attendance system—used by all 1,247 government primary schools in Bhilwara District since 2020.
- Every volunteer submitted a weekly Siksha Diary summary to DIET Bhilwara, detailing child-specific observations—not general impressions.
- Monthly third-party verification occurred: DIET officials conducted unannounced 45-minute classroom observations, scoring fidelity to TaRL protocol on a 20-point rubric.
Non-compliance triggered immediate coaching—not removal. In April, two volunteers scored below 14/20 on rubric Item 7 (‘Uses only level-appropriate materials’). They received targeted mentoring from Pratham’s regional TaRL lead and re-scored 19/20 by May.
Numbers That Hold Weight
Final outcomes were measured against ASER benchmarks—not internal targets. Baseline and endline data were collected by independent ASER assessors (not volunteers or teachers) using identical tools:
| Indicator | Baseline (Jan 2023) | Endline (June 2023) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| % reading Class II-level text (Hindi) | 31% | 78% | +47 pp |
| % solving subtraction (2-digit) | 22% | 69% | +47 pp |
| Average reading level gain (grade-equivalent) | Grade 1.2 | Grade 2.9 | +1.7 grades |
| Average math level gain (grade-equivalent) | Grade 1.4 | Grade 3.1 | +1.7 grades |
| Student attendance rate (school-wide) | 71% | 89% | +18 pp |
Note: ‘pp’ denotes percentage points—not percent change. The 47-percentage-point rise in Hindi reading reflects absolute improvement—not relative growth. These figures match ASER’s 2023 district-level report for Bhilwara, which recorded a 4.3 pp average gain across all government schools—confirming the program’s outlier status.
Crucially, gains persisted. In September 2023, ASER revisited Govindram Seksaria and found 71% of the original cohort still reading at or above Grade 2 level—down only 7 percentage points from June, despite no volunteer presence. This retention rate exceeded Pratham’s national average of 62% for TaRL cohorts.
Teachers as Architects, Not Gatekeepers
Volunteers never replaced teachers—they amplified capacity. Grade 3 teacher Rekha Devi (14 years’ service, trained at DIET Bhilwara in 2018) co-facilitated ‘Badi Kahaani’ with Canadian volunteer Lena Cho. Together, they redesigned the Hindi curriculum to embed TaRL principles: replacing whole-class textbook recitation with leveled story circles, and substituting weekly dictation tests with peer-led ‘word hunts’ in school compound signage.
Rekha Devi’s own practice evolved measurably. Pre-program, her lesson plans averaged 67% whole-group instruction. Post-program, DIET classroom audits showed 52% small-group work and 29% individualized feedback—aligning with NCERT’s 2022 pedagogical guidelines. She now leads TaRL training for five neighboring schools—a role formalized by the Bhilwara District Education Officer in August 2023.
Material Realities, Not Idealism
No success emerged without confronting constraints. The school’s single hand-washing station—installed under Swachh Bharat Mission Phase II—served 217 children. Volunteers coordinated staggered hygiene breaks, using timers calibrated to the school’s analog clock (a Titan Analog Watch, Model: Fastrack 3013SM01). They sourced liquid soap from Hindustan Unilever’s Project Shakti network—delivered monthly to the village’s sole female entrepreneur, Sunita Yadav.
Lunch was served under the Mid-Day Meal Scheme: 450 grams of rice, 100 grams of lentils, and seasonal vegetables—prepared by Anganwadi worker Meera Bai in the school’s kitchen (measuring 3.1 m × 2.4 m). Volunteers ate identical meals, seated on floor mats beside students—no separate ‘volunteer mess.’ This normalized shared experience and reduced perceived hierarchy.
What Comes Next—No Grand Finale
The program ended in June 2023—not with a ceremony, but with transition planning. Volunteers trained three parent volunteers (selected by the PTC) in TaRL basics using Pratham’s Parivar TaRL Manual, a 48-page Hindi guide with photo-based instructions. These parents now facilitate Saturday ‘reading circles’ using donated Eklavya storybooks.
The school received ₹2.4 lakh (approx. $2,900 USD) from the Rajasthan State Innovation Council in October 2023 to install a ‘Learning Wall’—a chalkboard-painted exterior wall featuring rotating numeracy puzzles and Hindi word ladders. Design input came directly from students: 12-year-old Diya Meena sketched the initial layout; her concept—using local motifs like peacocks and mango trees as visual anchors—was adopted verbatim.
Most significantly, the Bhilwara Block Education Office has scaled the model. As of January 2024, 17 schools across four blocks now host certified volunteer cohorts—each requiring PTC approval, DIET orientation, and Pratham-aligned material kits. The state education department has allocated ₹8.2 crore ($980,000 USD) in its 2024–25 budget specifically for ‘community-integrated learning companions,’ citing Govindram Seksaria’s data as evidence of viability.
This isn’t about replicating a ‘model.’ It’s about honoring what worked: specificity over scale, consent over charity, measurement over metaphor. Ananya reads. Rajesh calculates. Rekha teaches differently. The numbers hold. The children’s names remain—not as case studies, but as neighbors whose literacy altered the weight of monsoon rain on their notebooks, the confidence in their voices during assembly, and the quiet certainty that ‘paani’ is spelled with a ‘p’—not a ‘b.’
Pratham’s TaRL methodology is publicly documented in its 2022 Technical Brief, accessible at pratham.org/ta-rl. All ASER data cited is drawn from the 2023 ASER Rajasthan State Report, published by Pratham Information and Communication Technology Centre. DIET Bhilwara’s Volunteer Engagement Framework is available through the Rajasthan Education Department’s e-Governance portal (rajeducation.gov.in/volunteer-policy).
The Govindram Seksaria Primary School’s academic calendar for 2023–24 lists 202 instructional days—two more than mandated—because parents petitioned for extended remedial hours. Attendance logs show 91% average daily presence in July and August, monsoon months historically marked by 32% absenteeism in Bhilwara’s rural schools (Rajasthan Health Department, 2022).
Volunteer journals contained 1,284 dated entries across six months—each referencing at least one child by name and a concrete behavioral observation. No entry used the phrase ‘underprivileged.’ Instead: ‘Priya wore her sister’s uniform today—still ironed, still bright blue.’ Or ‘Arjun counted 17 stones before stopping—first time he initiated counting without prompt.’
The school’s single laptop remains connected to the solar microgrid. Its battery lasts 4.2 hours on average—measured with a Fluke 117 multimeter during DIET’s March 2023 audit. It hosts only three applications: the TaRL Tracker, a Hindi typing tutor (developed by IIT Bombay’s Spoken Tutorial Project), and a PDF of the Rajasthan RTE Rules, 2011.
When asked what changed most, 11-year-old Laxmi Solanki didn’t speak of grades or tests. She pointed to the ‘Reading Corner’ almirah and said: ‘Ab main apne liye kitaab chun sakti hoon.’ (Now I can choose my own book.) That sentence—spoken without hesitation, with eye contact, holding a copy of Gopal Ki Gai—was the metric no spreadsheet captured. But it was logged, verbatim, in volunteer Lena Cho’s journal on June 15, 2023.
There is no epilogue. There is only the next page—blank, waiting for a child’s hand to fill it.
The ASER 2023 report notes that Bhilwara District’s overall reading proficiency rose 5.1 percentage points year-on-year—the highest gain in Rajasthan. Govindram Seksaria contributed 0.8 points to that total. Small? Yes. Statistically marginal? Absolutely. But for Ananya Sharma, Rajesh Meena, and 125 others, it was the difference between silence and speech, between erasure and inscription.
Volunteer programs succeed not when they ‘transform communities’—but when they enable existing structures to function with greater fidelity, precision, and care. This story holds no miracles. It holds measurements. It holds names. It holds the weight of a pencil moving across paper—slow, certain, and entirely human.
Pratham’s Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat kits contain exactly 14 items per set: 30 Hindi word cards, 12 number cards (0–9, double-printed), 1 abacus, 1 sand tray, 1 set of clay numerals, 1 storybook, 1 assessment booklet, 1 teacher guide, 1 student workbook, 1 timer, 1 attendance register, 1 progress chart, 1 bilingual glossary, and 1 storage pouch made from upcycled cotton sari fabric.
The DIET Bhilwara orientation covered 12 modules across 42 hours: Child Rights (POCSO & RTE), Local Language Pedagogy, TaRL Assessment Protocols, Gender-Inclusive Practices, Nutrition Linkages (Mid-Day Meal Scheme), Hygiene Integration, Conflict Resolution, Documentation Ethics, Community Engagement Law, Rajasthan State Curriculum Alignment, Disability-Inclusive Strategies, and Exit Planning.
Of the 18 volunteers, 12 were Indian nationals (from Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur, and Guwahati); 6 were international (Canada, Germany, South Korea, Nigeria, Brazil, and Australia). All held minimum qualifications: Bachelor’s degree + 40 hours of prior teaching experience—or equivalent certification (e.g., TEFL, B.Ed, or NIOS-certified facilitator training).
