New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- Ek Tara's Strengthening Early Learning Initiative (SELI) began in 2022-23 as a modest intervention across five government schools, reaching 1,000 children through two components: the Golpo Ghor library and structured FLN remedial classes for Grades 1 to 5. The premise was simple: children in Kolkata's urban slum areas are enrolled in government schools but are not truly learning, held back by overcrowded classrooms, a lack of resources, the absence of print-rich environments and multilingual homes with no literacy support.
Three years on, SELI operates across 28 government primary schools under the Kolkata Primary School Council (KPSC) and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), reaching 4,403 children. Along the way, the programme evolved: what began as two components grew into a fuller offering spanning library-based learning, FLN remediation, STEAM exposure and co-curricular activities - all grounded in NEP 2020, the NIPUN Bharat Mission and NCF-FS 2022.
The need remains urgent. PARAKH 2024, India's national learning assessment, shows West Bengal's Class 3 students scoring 58 per cent in Language and 53 per cent in Mathematics - both below the national averages of 64 per cent and 60 per cent.
Against this backdrop, SELI's own baseline-to-endline data tell a strong story. Across the 28 schools, the share of children at the lowest (Emergent) literacy level fell from 65 per cent at baseline to 30 per cent at endline, with children advancing across every higher proficiency band. FY 2024-25 assessments recorded double-digit gains in both Numeracy and Language for Classes 3-5.
Within the programme, a distinct pattern emerged. The library component was originally designed as a supplementary activity. But it has consistently shown stronger engagement, deeper language growth and more sustained learning behaviours among children. Children who participate regularly in this library programme demonstrate not only better reading comprehension and oral language confidence, but also higher attendance motivation, richer vocabulary and greater social-emotional wellbeing - outcomes that direct instruction alone has struggled to produce at the same depth.
This pattern is not incidental. It reflects a fundamental insight into how young children from low-literacy, high-stress urban slum environments actually learn: not only through drills and remedial classes, but through joyful, meaning-rich engagement with books, stories and creative expression.
15 government primary schools now have functioning libraries, and 13 have classroom reading corners, stocked with 500+ curated, contextual, age-appropriate books. The full SELI programme, spanning library sessions and FLN remediation, is implemented on the ground by a team of 22 educators trained through DIKSHA and the NISHTHA FLN course.
SELI's Phase II (2026-2030) sharpens the focus on "Literacy Enhancement" through library sessions for Classes I-V, in response to persistent gaps in reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. The vision is for the library to become not a supplementary space but the pedagogical anchor of early learning - supported by print-rich classrooms, trained facilitators and two weekly library sessions per class embedded in the school timetable.
The RTE Act, 2009, already mandates a library in every school (Schedule Item 6). Hence, Ek Tara activates the very intention that already exists, at a fraction of the cost of new infrastructure: one room or corner, curated books and one trained facilitator per school. So, no new policy sanction is needed, only implementation support.
Sessions are timetabled within the existing school day, requiring no extra staff time or school hours. Most importantly, the model is built to hand over, not hold on. By Year 3 in each school, library management transfers fully to the school - so the schools inherit sustained capacity, not a standing dependency on an NGO.
Complementing SELI's in-school library model is Chakke Pe Kaksha (CPK) - Ek Tara's mobile school, run in partnership with the Belgian organisation Mobile School since 2016, when it became India's first mobile school. CPK is built around a six-metre, two-sided, extendable blackboard on wheels carrying over 360 interactive learning panels, taken directly to children in slums, streets and, increasingly, government school premises. It has reached 20,000+ children cumulatively, blending literacy and numeracy with life skills, creative activities, health and hygiene awareness and, most importantly, self-esteem.
As SELI scales, CPK offers a natural extension inside government school campuses: a low-infrastructure, high-engagement complement to the library programme that can reach children and the community - building interest in reading, supporting outreach and enrolment drives and reinforcing SELI's literacy goals through play. Currently operational in six schools, Ek Tara plans to bring CPK sessions to new schools to widen its impact without diluting quality.
Ek Tara's SELI journey - from five schools and under 1,000 children to a 28-school, 4,400-child programme with a formal government partnership - reflects an underlying conviction: that the school library, not the worksheet, is where sustainable foundational learning takes root. With committed government partners and complementary programmes like Chakke Pe Kaksha, Ek Tara aims to make that library the dynamic, lifelong-learning hub every child in every partner school deserves.
SELI's journey is a wonderful example of the Nexus of Good. The model they have put in place is replicable and scalable in the true spirit of the Nexus of Good through public-private partnership.
Views expressed are personal. The writer is an author and a former civil servant
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.