India, April 4 -- Teacher preparedness is increasingly recognised as the most influential in-school determinant of learning outcomes. In India's large and diverse education system, sustained improvements in quality and equity require institutionalised mechanisms that strengthen teacher capacity, align leadership structures, and embed responsible data use.

India's school education system serves over 250 million students across diverse geographic, socio-economic, and linguistic contexts, as reported by UDISE+ 2022-23. While access has expanded substantially over the past decades, quality and equity gaps remain persistent.

National learning assessments and independent surveys continue to report foundational literacy and numeracy gaps in ea...