India’s progress on foundational learning holds important lessons for education systems around the world. 🌍 Through our 'NIPUN Bharat Mission: Best Practices Compendium', we have sought to document how states across India are translating the Mission’s ambition into action and the practices, systems and reforms enabling progress at scale. Encouraging to see these lessons reaching a wider global policy audience and contributing to the conversation on what it takes to ensure every child builds strong foundations in literacy and numeracy. 💫 #FoundationalLearning #NIPUNBharat #GlobalEducation #EducationPolicy #LearningOutcomes

As the #UNGA81 draws to a close, we reflect on the packed week of conversations on foundational learning, philanthropy, AI and what it takes to strengthen public systems at scale. 🌍 Across the week, our CEO Ishmeet Singh joined several discussions, including the Foundational Learning Collaborative-convened closed-door roundtable on 'The Workforce of 2040 Is in Grade 2 Today' and Reliance Foundation’s 'Scaling Development Innovation for Global Impact'. 📍 A few themes came through strongly: 👉 Foundational learning is increasingly being recognised as an economic priority. The conversation is moving beyond education outcomes alone to workforce readiness, productivity and long-term growth. 👉 Philanthropy has a bigger role to play in supporting system change. Discussions around match funding, risk-sharing and longer funding cycles pointed to the need for more patient capital and deeper alignment with governments. 👉 The middle tier remains critical. District, block and other system actors are often where policy gets translated into practice, making this layer central to sustaining reform. 👉 AI is moving from promise to application in education. Real-time assessments, teacher support and personalised learning are opening up new possibilities, while questions around inclusion, motivation and the future role of schools remain equally important. 👉 Collaboration matters most when it leads to coordinated action. Governments, philanthropy, multilaterals, civil society and technology partners all have a role to play in taking evidence-backed solutions to scale. We leave #UNGA81 with stronger partnerships, sharper questions and a clearer focus on what it will take to move from evidence to adoption at scale. #UNGA81 #FoundationalLearning #Education #AIinEducation #Philanthropy #SystemChange #CentralSquareFoundation

⏳ 6 days to go to submit your idea for the AI for Foundational Learning Hackathon. Do you have an idea that could use AI to solve a persistent challenge in foundational learning? This is your chance to put it forward and take it to the next stage. The Top 30 teams will advance to the Build Stage, with access to Claude credits and expert mentorship to develop their ideas into working solutions. The Top 10 teams will then present their solutions at the Grand Finale before a distinguished jury from across education, technology and entrepreneurship. 🙌 Meet the jury for the AI for Foundational Learning Hackathon. 🗓️ Deadline: 27 September 2026, 11:59 PM IST ShikshaNext is anchored by the @DellFdn, @ril_foundation and @gatesfoundation as Founding Strategic Partners, @CSF_India as Managing Partner and @AnthropicAI as Supporting Partner. . . #EdTech #Mentors #AI #Hackathon #IndiaBuilds #AIInnovation #IndiaInnovationStory #BuildingSolutions #ApplyNow #FoundationalLearning #SabkaEdTech #BuildForIndia #Hack2skill #Anthropic

At the United Nations General Assembly 81 this week, Central Square Foundation will join conversations on foundational learning, human capital, and the role of strong public systems in expanding opportunity at scale. On 22 September (5:30–6:45 PM EDT), our CEO Ishmeet Singh will speak at a closed-door roundtable on “The Workforce of 2040 Is in Grade 2 Today" convened by the Foundational Learning Collaborative in partnership with the Gates Foundation and Central Square Foundation as an organising partner. The discussion will explore why foundational learning is critical to workforce readiness and economic growth and how governments, philanthropy and businesses can help finance and sustain reform at scale. On 24 September (11:40 AM–12:30 PM EDT), Ishmeet will be speaking at "Women, Children and Youth: Building Healthier Futures for the Next Billion", a session convened by Reliance Foundation. The panel will bring together Ishmeet Singh, along with Archna Vyas, Carla Haddad Mardini, Mandeep Dhaliwal, and Masood A., moderated by Vanita Sharma, to discuss how stronger public systems, community-led delivery, technology, and cross-sector partnerships can improve outcomes for women, children, and young people across the Global South. We look forward to exchanging ideas, learning from others, and advancing these conversations at #UNGA81. #unga81 #FoundationalLearning #FLN #HumanCapital #GlobalDevelopment #CentralSquareFoundation

🎙️Tune in to the second episode of our ‘3 Things’ collaboration with @IndianExpress , on how Personalised Adaptive Learning (PAL) can help children learn at their own pace. In this insightful conversation, CSF’s @HarishDoraiswa2 joins @singhab from @JPAL to discuss how #EdTech can enable more personalised and inclusive learning in #classrooms. 🔴Listen to the episode: bit.ly/3ThingsPodcastOnEdTec… #3Things #EdTech #PAL #PersonalisedLearning #EducationTechnology

AI is changing what learners experience. How should we evaluate it? On 15 Sept 2026, @EdtechTulna launched its Standards for AI-Powered Solutions to help education stakeholders assess AI-enabled EdTech before procurement. The framework looks at 3 layers: → AI capability → Product & learning experience → Learning outcomes at scale It also introduces checks for dialogic pedagogy, hallucinations, citations, safety, academic guardrails and age-appropriate responses. A special thanks to Prof. Mitesh Khapra, IIT Madras, co-creator of the framework, for helping bring these standards to life and unpacking what quality and responsible AI can look like in learning products. Access here ➡️ edtechtulna.org/standards . . #EdTechTulna #AIinEducation #AIforLearning #EdTech #ResponsibleAI #EdTechStandards #SabkaEdTech

Central Square Foundation co-hosted a session at #Charcha2026 on ‘Preparing Bharat’s Teachers and Students for an AI-enabled Future of Learning, Employability and Livelihoods’. With AI increasingly becoming part of everyday life, Dr. Shabana K M, Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI, IIT Madras, highlighted the growing need for Foundational AI Literacy, noting that “initiatives such as AI Samarth are the need of the hour.” But building AI readiness in schools goes beyond introducing AI courses and tools. Sagarika Rout, District Science Supervisor, Cuttack, highlighted the system-level foundations needed to support this journey, including “adequate digital infrastructure, continuous teacher training, quality assurance and testing of programmes.” These foundations ultimately need to translate into what happens in the classroom. Sharing his experience, Sreenivasa Rao Pokuri, ICT & AI Educator, Govt school, Andhra Pradesh, spoke about the key role of empowering teachers as guides and mentors, particularly as students are increasingly turning to AI for schoolwork. He highlighted examples of students creating personalised maths games and getting support with science assignments through AI, underscoring the need for teachers to help students navigate these applications meaningfully and responsibly and engaging with AI as a thought partner, without offloading their own critical thinking. And as AI readiness is built across the system, the question of who gets to participate remains equally important. Tanushree Narain Sharma, Co-founder & COO, Transform Schools, emphasised the importance of “reaching the last mile” through programme design that responds to the needs of underrepresented groups, including young girls. Together, the conversation reinforced that preparing for an AI-enabled future is not only about access to technology. It requires AI Literacy, empowered teachers, enabling systems and inclusive opportunities so that students can understand AI, question it and use it meaningfully and responsibly as they prepare for the future of learning, work and livelihoods. Grateful to our panelists and partners for contributing their perspectives to this important conversation. @thesparkorg_in #Charcha2026 #ViksitBharat #samaajsarkaarbazaar #InclusiveIndia #socialimpact #DevelopmentSector #CentralSquareFoundation #AIinEducation #AILearning #AISamarth #SabkaEdTech

Get a chance to learn from mentors who understand the nuances of building with AI and the realities of public education, ask questions and get feedback as you turn your idea into a working solution. 🙌 Introducing the technical and domain mentors for the AI for Foundational Learning Hackathon. The Top 30 teams selected for the Build Stage will have the opportunity to interact with experienced mentors as they develop their prototypes. 💻 Technical mentors will bring perspectives on the AI build, product architecture and technical choices behind the solution. 📚 Domain mentors will help teams test their assumptions against real-world learner needs, classroom contexts and implementation realities. Teams will compete for a total cash prize pool of INR 10 lakh, including INR 50,000 each for the top five ideas selected at the Ideate Stage. If you have an idea for what frontier AI could unlock for foundational learning, this is your chance to build it. 📣 APPLY NOW lnkd.in/g6SAwRC3 🗓️ Idea submission deadline: 27 September 2026, 11:59 PM IST ShikshaNext is anchored by the @DellFdn, @ril_foundation and @GatesIndia as Founding Strategic Partners, Central Square Foundation as Managing Partner and @AnthropicAI as Supporting Partner. #EdTech #Mentors #AI #Hackathon #IndiaBuilds #AIInnovation #IndiaInnovationStory #BuildingSolutions #ApplyNow #FoundationalLearning #SabkaEdTech #BuildForIndia #Hack2skill #Anthropic