Why India needs to shut down 5 lakh Govt schools? | Seema Bansal | TEDxGateway

India has been struggling with a deep learning crisis for nearly 2 decades now. 50% or more of our children do not possess basic literacy or numeracy. The common narrative around how to address this issue is centered around more/better teacher trainings, student assessments, digital interventions, etc. However, there is one critical lever that no one talks about. Merging sub-scale schools into larger integrated schools. India has nearly 5 lakh schools that are less than 50-60 students and 2 teachers teaching across 3-5 grades. These schools don’t have a clerk, a principal; and just one cook in addition to the teachers. No matter what we do, teaching cannot be delivered well in these schools and hence the right strategy for India is to merge these schools into nearby larger schools to create true institutions of teaching/learning. While many people may worry that leads to lack of access and drop-outs- our data shows the opposite. Mergers if done thoughtfully lead to more students joining the public school systems. Seema Bansal is passionate about large scale systems reforms. She brings this passion to bear in her role as the Director of the Social Impact practice in BCG. Seema has been working with the leaderships of Central and State Governments, Foundations and NGOs on reforms in development sectors such as education, public health, food security etc. over the last decade. Currently she and her team are working with 2.5lakh schools and 3cr kids to improve the quality of education. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx