Key Education sought support from Bansuri Foundation to implement their ECE program in 35 government schools in Kiphire, an aspirational district of Nagaland. The goal was to enhance Pre-Primary Education quality by developing a new curriculum, hiring additional teachers, and strengthening teacher training in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP).

Key Education conducted a needs assessment and identified key challenges:

• 85.7%of schools had limited classrooms, leading to combined age groups in one space.
• 75%of schools sent pre primary children home early, reducing learning hours.
• Just 57%of schools regularly used the government-issued pre primary curriculum.
• 60%of classrooms lacked childfriendly furniture.
• 35%of schools reported having no teaching/learning materials, while others had insufficient or damaged resources.
• 57%of schools restricted children’s access to available materials.
• 62.9%of schools did not have a dedicated Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) teacher.
• 93%of teachers faced significant challenges in teaching pre primary students.
• 83%of teachers believed play based approaches were effective in teaching young children.

Bansuri Foundation provided strategic support beyond funding towards the ECE pro- gram including:

• Assisting Key Education in drafting a Theory of Change (TOC) to refine program objectives and outcomes.
• Redefining the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) framework to track key impact areas.
• Offering research expertise to develop a baseline assessment methodology.
• Supporting improvements in teacher training and classroom observation methodologies.