Nagar Nigam Pratibha Baalika Vidhyalaya F- Block, Dilshad Colony-1st

Community-led education support: How one school engages and empowers parents for their students’ success

Nagar Nigam Pratibha Baalika Vidhyalaya (NPBV) F- Block, Dilshad Colony-1st, a government school in Delhi, India, has broken through the traditional mould to provide community-based interventions and support to bridge the gap between teachers, students, and parents. The school’s Family Champion programme has empowered parents to become leaders in their communities, thanks to which 65 out-of-school children have re-enrolled in school. With the school community's collaborative efforts, NPBV F- Block, Dilshad Colony-1st has redefined community engagement and proven that it can lead to exceptional success.

In 2020, the school’s teachers began to notice a growing disconnect between the students and their studies, mainly due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and the community feeling overwhelmed with their financial situation and other insecurities. In response, the school developed and launched its Family Champion programme to help students and their families to navigate the challenges of remote learning and stay engaged with their education.

The community parents, known as Family Champions, received a need analysis, baseline assessment, and continue to receive two training sessions per month led by Kshamtalaya Foundation to prepare them for their roles as educators and teacher leaders. In its first year, the programme onboarded 35 Family Champions, who focused on strategies for engaging children in learning at home, COVID and vaccination awareness, and self-care.

The programme then led to 54 community learning centres, 61 parent learning ambassadors, and home-based learning support, beginning with 30 Family Champion-led Learning Circles – collaborative and participatory learning groups – across the community. As a result, 90% of Family Champions have reported feeling more confident holding conversations with parents and teachers. The Learning Circles benefited 1,665 children in the past three years from 2020-23. This demonstrates the programme’s importance in building capacity, empowering parents, and improving children's foundational literacy and numeracy skills in the community.

If NPBV F- Block, Dilshad Colony-1st wins the World's Best School Prize for Community Collaboration, it plans to expand its Family Champion programme to other communities and train more Family Champions. This will create a solid basis for community-based educational interventions that empower families and communities to support student success.