India
Strengthening leadership for equitable, student-centered schools
India’s education system is one of the largest and most diverse in the world, with over 1.5 million schools serving more than 250 million children. School leaders here operate in vastly different contexts, from urban, affordable private schools to remote tribal residential government schools. Supporting them to lead effectively is essential to ensure every child, particularly those from underserved communities, has access to quality education.
We partner with organizations like Alokit, Bhumi, and The Unifly Collective to support school leaders across India through leadership development, coaching, and research.
Our work with Alokit
Alokit enables K–12 leaders to drive high-quality schools and education systems in India. They hone the leadership competencies of school leaders to support improved outcomes for systems and schools. GSL and Alokit began working together in 2020, supporting school leaders through COVID-19-related school closures and reopenings.
Over the years, our partnership has evolved to include co-designed programs focused on student well-being, equity, and foundational learning. One such program was Shakti, launched in the wake of COVID-19 to help school leaders re-engage girls and ensure their safety and belonging. The program provided leaders with tools to identify and respond to student needs, with school leaders reporting increased confidence and skills to support girls in their schools and communities.
In addition to program design and implementation, we have also provided technical support in areas such as curriculum development, research design, and monitoring and evaluation over the years.
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We currently partner with Alokit on two major initiatives:
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Leveraging Strengthened School Leadership to Improve Student Outcomes in India
This three-year randomized control trial (RCT) research project was conducted with government schools of the Telangana Tribal Welfare and Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society. The study explores and understands how school leadership training and coaching can improve student learning outcomes. The RCT was implemented in 400 government schools.
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The final results of this study will be available in late 2025.
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Gender Equitable Schools Program (GESP)
​The Gender Equitable Schools Program was built upon our previous work on gender. While the previous two iterations of this program focused solely on gender issues within the school, GESP took a broader approach and embedded equity discussions in workshops on the use of data, effective teaching practices, behavior management strategies, supporting teachers' professional development, etc.
The GESP program aimed to:
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Increase student participation
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Increase student attendance
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Improve students’ sense of safety and belonging
The program was implemented in 160 schools in Rangareddy, Telangana, and involved A/B testing of two parallel arms. One arm focused broadly on equity issues, including but not limited to gender, while the other focused exclusively on gender equity.
The final results of this study will be available in late 2025.
Video Series: Students First
'Students First: India' highlights the school leadership journey of School Principal B.M. Suvarna Latha at a girls’ residential school in Boath, Telangana. The series delves into the unique challenges of leading in this context and shows how she leverages shared leadership, data from her school, and lessons from Alokit's school leadership training programs to enhance school management and create a safe and enabling learning environment.​
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Our partnerships with Bhumi and The Unifly Collective
In addition to our long-term collaboration with Alokit, we partnered with Bhumi and The Unifly Collective on short-term and exploratory engagements. These partnerships have focused on adapting school leadership resources created by GSL to strengthen their existing engagement with school leaders.
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With Bhumi, we supported them in their efforts to strengthen school leadership as part of their fellowship program. As part of their broader strategy to engage and develop head teachers (HMs), Bhumi designed and facilitated contextualized workshops focused on key leadership themes such as shared leadership and school culture. In this process, they drew upon GSL’s resource portal, among other tools, to support session design, planning, and facilitation. Feedback from the field has also informed ongoing efforts to improve accessibility and contextual relevance, including translation and modularization of content.
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