The goal of our work in education is to help improve the quality of and equity in the government school system
We seek to strengthen the school system in various ways. We work directly with teachers, as well as functionaries of the education departments and other stakeholders who hold key positions of responsibility. All of this is an effort to help teachers teach better, so that students learn better.
The Azim Premji University and the Azim Premji Schools are embodiments of the Foundation’s vision of contributing to a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society. These institutions seek to catalyse positive social change through education.
In the area of Education, we work directly on the ground though our Field Institutes and partners.
School Education
The journey of Azim Premji Foundation began with programmatic interventions in school education. After the first 10 years of programmatic interventions, we adopted an institutional approach, by setting up Field Institutes to strengthen the government school education system on the ground. Our teams in the field work closely and consistently with people who have a direct influence on teaching and learning in the classroom: teachers, head teachers, education functionaries and other stakeholders.
Our work in school education rests on and is informed by our understanding of education that we have developed over the years.
We understand that school education is perhaps the most important organised process for developing the individual and society. Education must develop knowledge, capacities and values in individuals who then form the society.
We also understand that education is a deeply social-human process, and the people involved in it — students, teachers, school leaders and others — matter the most. Therefore, human capacity is at the heart of improving education.
The culture of the school is an integral part of the curriculum, and we acknowledge the direct and significant effects that the student’s home and community environment, including access to resources, nutrition and care, have on learning. Schools can and should compensate for these as much as possible.
Informed by these learnings, our work in school education has multiple dimensions.
We have contributed to every aspect of this system, ranging from curriculum development and policy formulation to examination reform and building human capacity.
Our aim has been to contribute to the development of human capacity at every level of the education system — from the Anganwadi and the school to state- and national-level institutions. Our institutional presence on the ground through our Field Institutes enables our work on the capacity development. Like all our work in Education, this, too, is carried out in collaboration with state and central governments.
Continuous engagement with teachers is essential to developing their capacities and changing their perspectives. We have a similar approach for our capacity development of school leaders and other functionaries.
The nine Azim Premji Schools we run provide us with first-hand experiences that help us improve our overall work in school education.
We work with state governments and its institutions, such as the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) and Boards of Examinations, to enable similar capacity development in places where we have a direct on-ground presence and even where we don’t.
We also support various state governments, the Central government and their institutions on matters of curriculum, textbooks, examinations, teacher education and policy formulation. While our Field Institutes are in seven states, we work with the school systems of 17 other states across the country.
We also research and explore issues that are important to the real world of teachers and students, which we publish for dissemination.
University
In 2010, the first campus of the Azim Premji University was set up in Bengaluru. Our second campus in Bhopal was inaugurated in 2023. Our third campus is coming up in Ranchi.
At the University, we offer a range of programmes to build the capacity of the education sector, with Master’s in Education, Master’s in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), diplomas in Inclusive Education, Teaching Children with Learning Disabilities, ECE and Educational Assessment, and Bachelor’s in Science and Education.
