India is home to one of the largest education systems in the world, serving more than 250 million children across over 1.5 million schools. Over the past two decades, the country has made strong progress in expanding access to education. Laws and policies such as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act and national early childhood policies have helped bring more children into school. Yet access alone has not been enough to ensure learning and well-being for all children (UNICEF India; IndiaSpend, 2024).
Across the country, many children still struggle to learn. Large numbers drop out before completing elementary education, and about half of primary school–age children are not meeting grade-level learning expectations. Millions of children also miss out on early childhood education, which affects their readiness for school and their ability to keep up later on. These challenges became even more visible during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, when learning disruptions deepened existing inequalities.
Classroom Realities and Teacher Preparedness
Inside classrooms, these system-level gaps become very real. Teachers often work in difficult conditions, especially in schools serving low-income communities. Some schools lack basic infrastructure such as internet access, even while teachers are asked to attend training on digital tools they cannot realistically use. Many teachers manage large or multi-grade classrooms and work with children whose families face economic hardship, migration stress, or limited access to services. In these settings, teaching requires flexibility, empathy, and strong professional support, but many teachers report that existing training does not fully prepare them for these realities.
Teacher training sits at the center of India’s education reform efforts. The country has thousands of teacher education institutions and requires ongoing in-service training. At the same time, concerns remain about the quality, relevance, and consistency of teacher preparation. Some training institutions are overstretched or poorly regulated, and teachers often feel they have little space to adapt teaching methods to the needs of their children. Education experts emphasize that improving learning outcomes depends not just on policies or tools, but on how well teachers are supported to respond to real classroom contexts.
Collaboration Across Education Systems
Recognizing this, India’s education reforms increasingly point toward collaboration across levels of the system. National policies set direction, but states play a critical role in implementation. Teachers, training institutes, school leaders, and communities all influence what children experience day to day. UNICEF’s education programme in India works closely with national and state governments, as well as civil society, academic institutions, and the private sector, to strengthen early childhood education, reach out-of-school children, and improve teaching and learning, especially for the most marginalized children.
India’s experience shows that education reform is not a single action or policy. It is an ongoing process that depends on alignment between national vision, state-level systems, teacher training, and classroom practice. When these parts of the system are disconnected, children bear the consequences. When they work together, children have a better chance to learn, stay in school, and develop the skills they need to thrive.
At Whole Child Advisors, we see this case as a reminder that improving education means supporting the whole child, and that requires collaboration across systems. By helping connect policy, practice, and community realities, we work to ensure that reforms translate into meaningful change in children’s lives, not just on paper.
References
Iqbal, N. (2024, September 24). India’s teacher training landscape needs urgent reform. IndiaSpend. https://www.indiaspend.com/education/indias-teacher-training-landscape-needs-urgent-reform-925191
UNICEF India. (n.d.). Education programme: Every girl and boy in school and learning. UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/india/what-we-do/education
