As one of the largest non-governmental organizations in the country, Pratham focuses on high-quality, low-cost and replicable interventions to address gaps in the education system.
Salma Public School: A Journey of Learning and Change
Salma Public School is located in Rataul village of Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh. The journey began with a meeting with the school in March 2025 to understand the school’s needs for ASER assessment and to explore potential future initiatives. The school staff is very kind and humble. They were eager to learn new things and explore opportunities for their development as well as the development of the school, although they also felt a bit nervous about the changes being introduced in their school. After a healthy discussion, we all concluded that a baseline assessment should be conducted to understand the needs of each child and the assessment dates were finalized. On 3rd April 2025, an in-person training session on the ASER assessment was conducted for the school staff.
From 4th April 2025 onwards, the assessment of the children was rolled out. The school staff and our team enjoyed the assessment process and they learned how to conduct a basic assessment of children. It was their first time using Google Forms and in the beginning they felt nervous and fearful about using the online form and entering data. However, they gradually became more comfortable with the both the processes. In May 2025, the data was disseminated with the staff and they were excited about the outcomes. During the meeting, an in-depth discussion was held with the staff to explore possible steps for future action. The school concluded that it would implement ‘Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL)’ remedial classes for students in Grades 3 to 5 and adopt Pratham’s basic teaching methodology for students in Grades 1 and 2.
The training sessions were conducted from 18th August to 22nd August 2025 for teachers of Grades 1 to 5. During the training, the Pratham team collected feedback from the teachers. The active participation of the teachers reflected their interest and enjoyment in the sessions. We team-worked closely with the teachers to make the training fruitful and we appreciated the school environment. From 20th October to 18th November the remedial classes were conducted by the teachers and during the remedial classes. Teachers and students were enjoyed the remedial and provided their feedback on the same. At the end, an endline assessment was conducted to measure the improvement in students’ learning levels.
We appreciated the positive and supportive environment of the school and truly enjoyed working with the school staff. The partnership between Pratham and SPS will continue to explore new ideas for future endeavours and further strengthen this collaborative relationship.