Going to School: Be!Schools Program

In India, secondary schools are the last frontier for equipping millions of children with the skills they need to transform their lives. But, children are not learning the skills they need in order to start a business or get a job after school, and 50% of children enrolled in secondary school drop out by Grade 10. The Government of India estimates 109.73 million additional skilled workers will be required across 24 sectors by 2022. 

Be! Schools is a program designed to teach entrepreneurial skills to government school children [Grade 8, 9 & 10] and empower them to solve local problems using sustainable enterprises. The program introduces these skills through an interactive storytelling approach that includes an in-school reading session combined with activities, games, and projects that reinforce the skills learnt through the reading sessions. Going to School has already developed well-researched storybooks using the Human Centered Design (HCD) approach to teach these skills. Each book tells a story that inspires students to become successful changemakers.

PaperSeed partnered with Going to School in 2016 to support vital teacher trainings and print over 50,000 skill books, which introduced 21st century skills to 4,617 students between the ages of 13 and 16 in the state of Jharkhand. After completing the Be! Schools program, students demonstrated an increased understanding of how to engage in creative problem solving, and showed an increased interest in attending university. An added bonus—the Be! Schools program reduced harmful gender stereotypes for boys and girls.