Four Decades of
Educational Transformation & Community Action

Background & Need:

Primary schools in remote, inaccessible villages of Rajasthan faced severe teacher absenteeism and low student retention. Traditional civil-service teacher postings often failed in geographically isolated areas.

Sandhan's Strategic Intervention:

Sandhan designed and facilitated a selection and training framework that replaced non-resident teachers with locally recruited educational workers (*Shikshakarmis*). These local workers received rigorous, continuous residential training and supportive supervision.

Key Outcomes:

• Over 5,000 Master Trainers and Shikshakarmis trained.
• Drastic increase in daily student attendance, particularly for girls.
• Model acclaimed globally by international development agencies as a breakthrough in primary education.

Core Strategy:

Lok Jumbish ("People's Movement for Education") aimed at Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) through decentralized community mobilization, school mapping, and non-formal education (NFE).

Sandhan's Capacity Building Role:

Sandhan was entrusted with the crucial responsibility of designing and executing continuous teacher development programs and evaluating progress through interactive workshops.

Quantitative Achievements:

• Trained 7,500 NFE educators and 4,700 school teachers as Master Trainers.
• Master Trainers subsequently upskilled over 15,000 educators.
• Organized 280 evaluation workshops and produced 110 research papers guiding program adaptation.

Lok Jumbish Parishad Orientation (2002):

Organized intensive residential training sessions for 200 newly appointed state, district, and block-level educational administrators to build alignment on participatory learning values.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Project:

Collaborated with CRS to design standard NFE guidelines, instructor training modules, and quality assurance frameworks across multiple civil society partner organizations in Rajasthan.

Sandhan developed contextualized Hindi and Mathematics textbooks for Standards VII and VIII under upper primary reform initiatives.

Pisangan Block Implementation:

The books were field-tested in Pisangan block (Ajmer district), where Sandhan directly trained subject teachers to transition from rote learning to activity-based pedagogical methods.

DPEP Alternative Schools Evaluation (2003):

Evaluated alternative schools in Maandal and Malpura under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), concluding that continuous teacher support directly drives retention rates.

Sage Publications Case Studies:

Sandhan authored detailed case studies evaluating pioneering interventions by Digantar, Muktangan, and Pratham. These studies were published by Sage Publications in the book "Getting Children Back to School".

Post-2005, Sandhan pivoted towards supporting adolescent development, gender equity, and life-skills education (LSE) across residential schools.

Key Pillars of Current Strategy:

• KGBV Residential Interventions: Delivering life skills and health education in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas.
• Digital Literacy & Inclusion: Bridging the digital divide for rural youth.
• Youth Mental Health: Creating community support structures for adolescent well-being.
• Gender Equity Advocacy: Building leadership skills among marginalized young women.