What is the name of your solution?
Rangeet
Provide a one-line summary of your solution.
Platform for facilitators that measurably develops a breadth of skills, wellness, agency, global stewardship in every child using active pedagogies.
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
RANGEET SOLVES FOR INEQUITIES AND VARIABILITY IN LEARNING, DEVELOPING AGENCY AND GLOBAL STEWARDSHIP IN EVERY CHILD.
Quality education is unevenly distributed, impacted by factors like income, culture and geography, worsened by access issues, climate change and Covid. The percentage of children in learning poverty has risen from 57% pre-pandemic to 70%(UNICEF). Across the Global South children are impacted by the dual burden of poverty and climate change, including 51% of children in India(Save the Children). There has been a renewed push to fulfil the UNSDGs(Winthrop, Brookings) to reduce inequality through education, whilst tackling climate change.
Schools employ outdated rote methods, ignoring learner variability & vital skills. By 2030, 800million children across the world will not have the skills to thrive in the 21st century (Brookings). 85% of the global population lives in the Global South. Dr. Kasturirangan (architect, India’s National Education Policy(NEP)), Dr Saha (Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE)) and Michael & Susan Dell Foundation agree that a breadth of skills (including social-emotional/life skills) must be part of education’s purpose; integrated, robust, everywhere. 627million children across South Asia, of which 400million are in India(UNICEF), require such skills. Learning science states children learn best through active pedagogies and require a breadth of skills. Education must be holistic, scalable, sustainable, adaptable and measurable.
World Economic Forum estimates 1.2billion climate refugees by 2050. One billion children live in “extremely high climate-risk” countries. Approximately 40million have their education interrupted annually due to climate-induced disasters. Indirect effects are increased malnutrition, child labour and marriage(Global Partnership for Education; Malala Fund; Brookings).
There is a global shortage of teachers. Existing teachers are often not trained to teach (i) a breadth of skills, or (ii) climate education. Schools/communities are not well-equipped to develop agency and global stewardship. Curriculums must be of a particular standard and also work across contexts. In order to drive these changes, new systems, methods and processes are a necessity. Education systems need to transform, harnessing technology (Winthrop). Teachers, parents, community members, policy-makers, etc. are all responsible for inculcating a breadth of skills(Vyjayanthi Sankar, Centre for Science of Student Learning(CSSL)). Schools with trust between families/communities and teachers are ten times more likely to improve students’ academic and well-being outcomes and can help “leapfrog” inequality(Winthrop). Measuring skills & learning outcomes is crucial(Lantt Pritchett).
By design, many life skills programs exclude the poorest, requiring computers with internet connectivity. Connectivity costs are high for low-income households & infrastructure/services are unequally distributed (OECD/RMIT University). Edtech can bridge divides but only a small percentage of apps use smartphones(Central Square Foundation). Google states there are approximately 360million internet users in Southeast Asia, with 90% connecting via their mobiles. Similar issues exist across the Global South.
Furthermore, many programs are labour intensive and not scalable, hence, implemented in higher population density areas to justify unit-costs. Therefore, children who live in low-resource areas are excluded.
These conditions maintain a vice-like grip on poor communities, erasing possibility for progress.
What is your solution?
Rangeet is a platform for schools, caregivers and communities(facilitators) to develop better learners, wellbeing, agency and global stewardship in all children aged 7-16. Only one device, used by the facilitator, is needed to teach, collect and submit data.
The platform consists of:
I. A Mobile App to teach Rangeet’s proprietary Social Emotional & Ecological Knowledge(SEEK) curriculum/resources, designed around UNSDGs. SEEK uses active pedagogies to develop a breadth of skills (including Brookings 6Cs/social-emotional and ecological competencies) which help promote agency/civic action to improve communities and the world. Facilitators collect and submit data. The app is designed to work online/offline with limited connectivity/electricity. In-app training addresses low digital literacy.
II. A Web App for administrators includes data visualisation and evaluation tools to help manage implementations and monitor impact, informing timely decisions & adaptations.
Rangeet's platform offers educators and communities an affordable, scalable and inclusive curriculum/toolkit.
Rangeet encourages facilitators to bring their lived experiences, cultures and contexts into teaching. Children learn best when their own identities and experiences are mirrored in their lessons. The same lessons should act as windows, making unknown worlds accessible, encouraging different viewpoints, thus involving critical thinking and consideration of diversity as a basic premise (Emily Style; Professor J.A. Banks). Rangeet’s original songs, stories, graphics, etc. provide these windows and mirrors. Children learn to assess the credibility of templates and behaviours imbibed/taught to them.
Empathy has guided and enabled human beings to thrive throughout history. Rangeet connects the common strand of empathy for Self with those around us in our Societies, and to all life on earth in our Ecological systems. Developing this connection drives agency and global stewardship.
Rangeet’s outcomes are authentic and verifiable: facilitators and learners experience consistent, in-depth and evaluated lessons, leading to sustained impact, building agency.
Rangeet contains tools that measure impact on children and collects feedback from facilitators. Timely, frequent and actionable data, presented to the right people is required for adaptive learning spaces and to understand impact. Brookings (November 2022) cites Rangeet as an app making a fundamental change in education today, improving the teaching-learning experience, reliability of data collected and data visualisation. Rapid experimentation, data driven decision-making and improvement is possible at low cost without causing upheavals and disruptions.
Rangeet’s teaching resources can be mapped to any curriculum, bringing the best of international learning science to all classrooms/communities.
SEEK can be taught flexibly:
Included as activities in any classroom/community daily or as needed. Every activity is tagged, hence, individually searchable across multiple dimensions which help:
Searches list positive externalities/outcomes across multiple dimensions. For example, a search to develop collaboration could also promote confidence, and responsibility whilst tackling climate-related issues too.
Taught as a subject. Currently 80+ hours of content.
The app enables anyone to teach in any socioeconomic, geographic or cultural context, in-person or remotely, at home, in schools and/or communities. Teaching can be shared between educators and caregivers/community members, helping “leapfrog” inequalities and alleviating pressure on schools.
Importance of Climate Education
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
"Human relationships are at the core of loving & learning.Through song & playful activities, Rangeet flexes our social muscles & prepares children to be tomorrow’s carers, thinkers & citizens."
-Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Primary Beneficiaries:
All Children: in & out of school; rural, urban, marginalised, girls, disabled. Develop a breadth of skills vital to agency/global stewardship.
Results from 18-year CASEL social-emotional learning(SEL) study:
Research suggests an economic benefit to SEL: for every dollar invested in SEL, $11 dollars is saved on interventions, remediation, dropout prevention, recovery, etc. (Columbia University). The World Economic Forum and employers alike understand and stress the importance of teaching children social-emotional skills.
Secondary Beneficiaries:
Facilitators (educators, support volunteers, caregivers): 100% of facilitators reported an improvement in their pedagogical skills, social-emotional competencies and agency.
Schools/administrators: flexibility allows curation of lessons according to context; app easily tracks & reports progress. Schools/community centres observe greater attendance on days Rangeet is taught.
NGOs, Community Members: can take ownership of bettering their communities by sharing the teaching/learning burden with schools, tackling systemic/local issues.
Donors: can create measurable, demonstrable impact. App tracks & reports progress easily & in a timely manner to donors.
“Education is crucial to promote climate action. It helps people understand and address the impacts of the climate crisis, empowering them with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to act as agents of change.” -UNESCO
Climate change is impacting people’s lives & livelihoods, acting as a threat multiplier. If left unchecked, the global economy could lose 18% of GDP by 2050 (Swiss Re Institute). Poverty will rise and low-income countries will lose larger shares of their economic output (Brookings). It is widely understood that climate action could lead to economic gains. Such action requires education leading to understanding and changes in mindsets and preparation for jobs of the future. As we have seen, it is the youth who are leading the way towards climate action. Rangeet’s mission is to develop global stewardship through our Ecology Umbrella, providing the foundation children need to tackle the climate crisis.
How Rangeet bridges knowledge with action:
Attitudes towards gender, skin tone, race, religion improved in Jharkhand (India) and Bangladesh.
Rajasthani children deduced their elders were wasting water & instituted a system to regulate usage with buy-in from their village elders, demonstrating advocacy/agency.
Uttarakhand-
Boy convinced his parents to help him stop their neighbours from marrying off their child and send her to school instead.
Girl experienced/witnessed bullying at a bus stop. SEEK taught her how to deal with the bully and include elders to resolve the issue.
Girl was teased for wearing glasses. Through SEEK, children realised this was wrong, apologised and stood up for her against others.
Children in 6 Indian states over a 2-year period saw an increase in baseline versus endline scores of ~40%, showing improvements in problem-solving, skill development & knowledge, changes in attitudes towards children with disabilities.
Increase in empathy, reduction in biases; understanding and agency around climate change.
How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?
Simran Mulchandani, Co-founder; CEO (B.Sc.Computer Science, Brown University) Speaker: Brookings CUE Feb '23; LSX Advisory Board member.
“Teaching at an under-resourced school committed me to bringing quality education to every child, including climate agency. Earlier, I participated in developing “TREE”, a natural-capital backed blockchain token. These experiences help me collaborate with the curriculum team to develop a love and awe for nature’s value and services in children. My computer science background has been instrumental in designing the functionality of Rangeet's platform.”
Karishma Menon, Co-founder; Curriculum, Product Design
"School made me feel like an outsider because I didn't fit a mould. I'm consumed by how I can help others like me feel like they matter and belong, and help teachers who want to support such students, rediscovering why they became teachers to begin with. Through my lived experiences and hours spent with teachers in classrooms, I have led the development of Rangeet's SEEK curriculum, aiming to include every child and giving them access to quality education."
Renisha Bharvani, Research, Legal, Funding (licensed to practice law in: UK, Singapore, New York)
“I grew up surrounded by people from almost 100 different countries. Everyone was equal no matter their gender, race, culture or socioeconomic background. Differences were celebrated and instrumental to learning. As a result, appreciation of diversity and equality in all aspects of life became core to who I am.”
Sandeep Mishra, Business Development, Strategy
With two decades of experience, Sandeep is one of the leading experts on how to effectively build systems & coalitions to drive sustainable ‘impact-at-scale’ in education. He comes with deep grassroots & education policy experience, critical to take Rangeet to the marginalised.
Rangeet did not set out to create an EdTech company but to solve problems in communities with stakeholders, ensuring delivery to all. Through conversations with 3000 educators from different backgrounds, Bangladesh’s Education Department & BRAC, Rangeet’s platform surfaced. Content was developed to fit into a school day/timetable or in communities out of school. Dhaka University helped develop our first formative/summative tools, using human-centric design to make data entry easy.
Dr Hirsh-Pasek’s (Brookings Institution/Temple University) guidance helped SEEK follow learning science based principles and pedagogy: active learning to achieve a breadth of skills, leading to solving learner variability issues. Hirsh-Pasek suggested methods to help facilitators adopt Rangeet flexibly. The platform has been upgraded not just to function as a codified curriculum; every activity is tagged enabling anyone anywhere to search for & use SEEK in an easy and meaningful way.
Our content was initially taught by teachers of differing abilities, who partnered with us by providing crucial inputs into our platform:
Lessons require detailed time management
Content needs adaptation to context
In-app tutorials for low digital literacy
Functionality in low-infrastructure settings
Minimum teaching preparation
Simple data collection
M&E is required
App should collect continuous feedback.
Rangeet draws upon the knowledge of experts across fields, including child psychologists, environmentalists, nutritionists, etc. Collaboration with and learning from stakeholders is a continuous process.
Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
Provide access to improved civic action learning in a wide range of contexts: with educator support for classroom-based approaches, and community-building opportunities for out of school, community-based approaches.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Mumbai
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
What is your solution’s stage of development?
Growth: An organization with an established product, service, or business model that is rolled out in one or more communities
How many people does your solution currently serve?
3,000 Facilitators; 60,000 Children; 500,000+ Teaching-learning hours.
Why are you applying to Solve?
Rangeet was founded on the following guiding principles.
Solve a pressing social/ecological problem.
Fulfil a pedagogical & educational need.
Be able to be used anywhere, anytime by anyone.
Be proven to work through data, learning science & evidence.
Be possible to build a team to develop a sustainable business, generating exponential growth.
Our Goals:
Whilst we have assembled an accomplished advisory board, gained international recognition and forged global collaborations, COVID presented significant challenges. We are rebounding but MIT’s stamp of approval would help us gain favourable regard and expand our network. Recently, Rangeet was competing with well established organisations for CSR funds. The fact that Rangeet was a 2022 MIT finalist served in our favour. Furthermore, after reviewing Rangeet's MIT submission, we were approached by an international publisher to collaborate. We have learned the high value of networks like HundrED.org, LSX, Jacobs and MIT.
As we have seen from our Jacobs/MIT Solveathon Award, Solve’s guidance is invaluable and will help us achieve organisational sustainability to achieve our goals.
Mentorship, expertise, guidance and resources in all areas
Network we become part of and exposure we receive
Collaboration and advice/feedback from experts & peers
We want to expand and build an evidence generator to:
Evaluate whether Rangeet is successfully developing better learners, agency and stewardship at scale using an app in different communities, contexts, languages, regions, geographies.
Provide evidence that learning outcomes are improving and based on this, influence learning systems.
Inform how communities can work in collaboration with schools to support learners and share the teaching-learning burden.
Help address acute shortages and problems in the education system by enabling anyone to be a part of the teaching-learning process.
Sound evaluation requires thorough input & evaluation, ideally implemented through randomised controlled trials, testing efficacy, and the time to evaluate the output generated. This requires resources, networks, collaboration, capital and time.
(i) Benefit: from information exchange/guidance around sales growth strategies, curriculum, improvement of systematic data collection methodologies, technology, and methods to map Rangeet to core curriculums and test for Rangeet’s efficacy in terms of improving learning outcomes. The Solve community could help us be on top of the global education research and practice landscape which is critical for Rangeet to learn from and improve in its early years of development. The robust and global Solve community of researchers and practitioners will not only help us deepen our impact in India but also could help us scale in other countries, paving the way for impacting the lives of millions of children, developing civic agency and global stewardship.
(ii) Offer: Rangeet captures valuable anonymised data in conformity with EU regulations, through its regular learning/classroom operations. We are making our data open source for the advancement of learning science.
(iii) Collaboration: we hope to form coalitions with the Solver network to test out hypotheses, learning outcomes that will inform how learning systems of the future ought to be built and help create learning equity for all while preparing our youth for the future.
In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?
Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Simran Mulchandani
What makes your solution innovative?
Rangeet uses an innovative, recognised approach which can be co-opted by any school/community to prepare and propel not just individual children, but future societies and thinking towards civic action and global stewardship. Rangeet’s app is facilitator-facing, with teachers, caregivers, community members implementing the lessons to benefit children. The platform ensures learning continuity through in-person or remote lessons. We employ smartphone technology for maximum reach.
LEARNING SCIENCE BASED APPROACH
Based on science of learning, uses active pedagogies & multiple intelligences to include every learner
Teaches breadth of skills through active learning (Brookings Policy 2020, K. Hirsh-Pasek et al)
Activities mapped to core subjects, skills developed, issues solved
Aligned with UN SDGs ensuring no child is left behind
Research and experience-based human-centric design
Structured/codified lessons ensure quality teaching/learning
Search function enables flexible/personalised teaching
Facilitators develop their own socio-emotional skills
Teachers/facilitators are upskilled pedagogically across subject fields
Teaching is joyful
Blended approach combines technology with personal scaffolding
Gamified teaching/evaluation
Enables creation of personalised program, data gathering & testing
SCALABLE
Affordable
Can be taught in a classroom/outside anywhere, anytime
Can be taught by anyone. Easy to follow structured lessons ensure the quality of teaching and enable anyone who can read: older students, community members, elders, parents, NGO volunteers to teach and support teachers
Only ONE mobile device required (by facilitator NOT children). Uniquely suited to no/low connectivity/electricity settings where students do not have computers, tablets or mobile devices.
App is facilitator-facing, not adding more screen time for children
Accessible to facilitators and students from all socioeconomic backgrounds
Minimal preparation time and resources
Adaptable to cultural contexts and language
Enables sharing of responsibility between educators & caregivers
Enables creation of personalised curriculum, data gathering & testing according to learner variability & context
Is flexible with several options for adoption
Any teaching-learning materials can be delivered through the Rangeet app. M&E tools track and evaluate data the organisation wishes include. Rangeet’s platform can be used as a resource by organisations who have existing curricula to achieve not just digitisation of their content but also provide them with scalable tools and processes to gain insight into classrooms, progress and evaluation.
Training provided, through in-app tutorials, and if required, remotely or in-person.
Monitoring and support provided on an ongoing basis to our users.
Where required, material is translated into different languages & also edited for cultural context/sensitivities.
RELEVANT
Inclusion of ecology develops durable skills.
Universal appeal- through stories, language or culture, children see reflections of themselves; also acts as a window allowing children to learn about/understand other perspectives and cultures.
Feedback from teachers and children informs new content development.
MEASURABLE
Built-in process and mechanism to measure, monitor and assess impact of the program in real-time
Collects Iterative feedback from facilitators and children to achieve timely adaptations to different settings.
COMMUNITY-LED
Empowering facilitators. Allows community members to take ownership of bettering their communities and tackle systemic and local issues.
SUSTAINABLE
Minimal infrastructure/training requirement makes it easy to adapt and adopt.
What are your impact goals for the next year and the next five years, and how will you achieve them?
1 year: 10,000 Communities/Schools; 12,000 Facilitators; 800,000 students (300,000 school students, 500,000 through partnerships)
3 years 30,000 Communities/Schools; 60,000 Facilitators; 7.000,000 Students (2,000,000 school students, 5,000,000 through partnerships)
5 years: 350,000 Communities/Schools; 650,000 Facilitators; 30,000,000 Students (19,000,000 school students, 11,000,000 through partnerships)
Goals:
Implement in schools/communities worldwide in various settings
Gain credibility and visibility. Scale up based on the new Indian National Curriculum Framework (NCF) which will require every school to teach life skills, etc.
Enable caregivers, schools and communities to share the responsibility of teaching skills vital to thrive, including civic action/agency and global stewardship
To bypass inefficiencies and disrupt existing systems ensuring target audiences are reached in the most fiscally efficient manner
Reaching facilitators directly
Reaching learners directly through partnerships with publishers
Collect evidence, evaluate externally & internally
Adapt & implement changes, replicating at scale
Influence advocacy and education systems: research evidencing short/long-term positive impact of SEEK; rely on this research to influence how learning systems of the future should be crafted & how communities should collaborate to support learners.
Serve as a strong engine for overcoming educational inequalities as well as developing lifelong learners, agency and global stewardship
Expand our curriculum
Provide a delivery and M&E platform for other educational innovations
To achieve this:
Secure Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from Corporates to fund implementations in government schools/communities.
Distribute through & enable existing platforms, governments, aid agencies, donors, education agencies, school networks, communities, publishers, partnerships
Sign MoUs with Govts/CSOs to implement
Carry out & conclude educational mapping to local contexts/curriculum boards
Test in various settings & forms (connectivity; remotely/in-person)
Continue to collect data & work with Temple University (Hirsh-Pasek/Elias) & UZH to study how Rangeet impacts learning outcomes. Based on this provide evidence on how learning systems should be designed; how communities can work in collaboration with schools to support learners
Become more visible/relevant with key stakeholders, partners.
Ensure detailed teacher resources, documentation, in-app training material.
Empower participants & contributors to support a dynamic network via culture, context, language.
Pipeline: creating a system of capturing activity as NFTs (photo/date/ time-stamp/impact) that serve as proof-of-impact and will catalyse/enable micro-investment into and support for the community at scale by anyone interested in furthering equitable education, civic action, global stewardship and engagement.
Which of the UN Sustainable Development Goals does your solution address?
How are you measuring your progress toward your impact goals?
We measure our progress both internally and externally. The science of learning states that children (i) require a breadth of skills, & (ii) learn best through active pedagogies. This applies to all children, regardless of socioeconomic, geographic or cultural context (Brookings; CASEL) CASEL research shows that social-emotional/6C skills develop better learners. This is the basis for Rangeet.
INTERNALLY
To date Rangeet has:
Developed & released an app
80+ hours of content and growing
Impact: 3000 facilitators, 60,000+ children across setting
Articles: https://bit.ly/3fClRul
Rangeet’s M&E tools are useful to track progress. They provide data/basis for evidence of:
(i) the science of learning applies universally,
(ii) the efficacy of SEEK,
(iii) improved learning outcomes and civic engagement,
(iv) SEEK’s efficacy to bridge gaps in educational inequities and variability in learning,
(v) improving teaching-learning environments,
(vi) how caregivers, communities & schools can collaborate to address equity and civic action,
(vii) how teaching can be designed.
We also use this as evidence to clients as reasons for implementing Rangeet.
EXTERNALLY
Rangeet’s data has been evaluated by:
Dhaka University. Control study conducted.
Jacobs Centre for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich is currently analysing Rangeet’s anonymised data & conducting a study across different geographic & socioeconomic settings. Baseline/endline will help evaluate changes following the app-based intervention.
Brookings Institution/Temple University (Hirsh-Pasek, Blinkoff) have analysed & mapped Rangeet’s activities, citing & presenting Rangeet as a model for teaching a breadth of skills through play. Blinkoff Rangeet Mapping
All Impact Reports Summary: Implementers’ feedback, including baseline/endline testing.
The new generation of the app accounts for research techniques.
We also measure our progress acceptance from renowned experts/organisations:
2023
Working with a leading international publisher to distribute materials direct to learner (in print and digital form).
Secured CSR funds from several corporations for implementation in government schools/communities.
Awarded a contract from a leading NGO to use Rangeet's tech platform for their own curriculum.
2022
Brookings Institution’s November 2022 report citing Rangeet as a top Digital Tool for Real-Time Data Collection in Education (find Rangeet in the interactive Tool Finder database)
HundrED Global Collection, 2023 - one of the top 100 global education innovations
Finalist in MIT Solve Re-Engaging Learners Global Challenge
Finalist in Global Schools Forum Impact@Scale Labs
Finalist in Octava/MIT Social Innovation Challenge
2021
“Winner HundrED and Royal Academy of Bhutan Holistic Education Spotlight”
Shortlisted in Deloitte/World Economic Forum “WorldClass Education Challenge”
Shortlisted by Hundred.org for the 2021:
Brookings Institution Cites Rangeet In Study On Playful Learning
The UN Features Rangeet As A Global Best Practice in SDG4&5
Contributed and spotlit by Columbia University on a working paper for the Global Happiness Council:
World Economic Forum paper: Davos Labs 2021
SEL content and network partner for Big Heart World a collaboration with Noggin (Nick Jr)
What is your theory of change?
“Children feel included, schools & educators win, workplaces benefit, society strengthens.”
-Committee for Children
Prevailing education systems struggle to account for multiple intelligences or the social emotional aspects of a child's growth. We equip facilitators (teachers, parents, community members) with a mobile app featuring Social Emotional & Ecological Knowledge (SEEK) using active pedagogies to develop better learners; promote wellbeing, agency & global stewardship in children 7-16.
Problems:
Access to quality education is unevenly distributed, worsened by access issues & learner variability
Out-dated learning systems do not develop vital skills
Social/climate issues require education & community collaboration to eradicate.
Climate Crisis leads to: loss of livelihoods, increased human migration & millions out of school; loss of biodiversity, breakdown of ecosystems.
Education systems don’t adapt easily across language, culture & contexts.
Scaling programs, including training, support, connectivity, electricity.
Timely/appropriate measurement & evaluation of such programs.
Intervention:
NGOs, caregivers & private/public schools use facilitator-facing app to implement a codified curriculum/resources using active pedagogies to: solve issues, teach any subject, develop a breadth of skills.
Facilitator submits data
Web back-end includes data Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) tools that help clients manage implementations & monitor impact using data visualisation tools.
Outcomes may be customised for implementations/communities.
Users are trained & supported via the app to address low digital literacy.
Rangeet is adaptable across language & culture & can be taught anywhere in any geographic or socioeconomic setting in-person or remotely.
The app works offline overcoming connectivity infrastructure settings.
Outputs:
Children & facilitators develop a breadth of skills, including SEEK competencies.
Ecological knowledge: develop a connection with nature/biodiversity; understand the value of ecosystems & their functions; and develop agency/global stewardship.
Tech development improve adaptive learning, data gathering, visualisation & impact analysis (more efficient, timely & less expensive)
Implementations in different contexts; data generated made open-source. Establishes platform for ongoing research
Pedagogically upskilled educators
Ensures quality education & learning equity
Short-Term Outcomes:
Social-emotional well-being
Agency around climate change, leading to protection of biodiversity & ecosystems
Increase in empathy for self, others & all life on earth
Holistic, collaborative, engaging learning environments and communities with more civic engagement
Reduced teacher burnout
Better learning outcomes
Less money spent on remediation, training & supporting teachers
Long-Term Outcomes:
Inclusive learning systems
Climate action & protection of ecosystems leading to new jobs in the green economy with positive economic/social impact; stabilisation of habitats & extreme climate patterns
Reduced negative mental effects in students & teachers
More likely to transition effectively into workforce
Equitable society
Economic benefits
Adaptable to align with unique needs of education systems beyond those in the initial intervention group
Describe the core technology that powers your solution.
Rangeet App High Level Functionality:
Web back-end for admins: subscription management, billing management, notification management; and for curriculum developers, data and reporting tools.
Mobile front-end for teaching and data collection.
(i) Enables any facilitator to develop a curriculum, lessons or activities. In our case, our curriculum developers create the Rangeet Umbrellas, Modules, Lessons and Activities using our curriculum editor and tag them in accordance with pedagogical guidelines e.g. skills developed, mapping to core subjects, problems solved in/out of classrooms, UN SDG mapping and teaching method.
(ii) Enables facilitators to prepare for and deliver lessons to children. Facilitators are trained and can train others using in-app training material.
(iii) Enables facilitators to use or prepare custom tests - iterative, baseline/endline, collect class data, feedback and subjective feedback suitable for their contexts.
(iv) Communicate with, support and reward facilitators, enable them to collect data from children, iterative feedback/impact data as well as geotagging lessons and verification that lessons have actually taken place. This also helps in keeping records of teachers and children impacted and their locations (which can be anonymised for Child Safety Laws).
(v) Data Engines allow collection of data at scale, reporting engines allow for graphical representation of the data. Data can be shared to other MIS systems. Data collected helps in identifying and monitoring KPIs for tracking our progress and meeting learning goals.
(vi) Smart Search: Functionality that allows facilitators to find lessons and activities that help them solve issues / develop skills that are relevant / required for their context. Eg. A social studies teacher can find a 5 minute game about pollutants in our neighbourhoods that develops collaboration skills, deals with climate anxiety and develops agency. This enables teachers to deliver relevant and exciting activities and icebreakers in every classroom which have meaning and purpose. Children become emotionally present and ready to learn.
(vii) Subscription management / project management / user management / automated billing. Client admins can purchase pre-set packages from Rangeet, or customised packages based on their local requirements. For example, we suggest that Rangeet should be taught once a week for 60 minutes as part of a values studies / life skills class. However, a school or community may wish to teach more or less times a week which could affect the duration of the program, and hence, the license cost. Also, since teaching with / without M&E / reporting tools has a different license cost (please see Business Model section for more details) we allow admins to custom design their packages which Rangeet then automatically prices up based on their input parameters, and shares the cost with the admin. This delivers flexibility, choice and value for money to users.
APP DOWNLOAD
Look for “Rangeet” on the App Store or Play Store Or click on the relevant link below from a mobile device
Play Store - https://bit.ly/3XPFRPc
App Store - https://apple.co/3OWWCUw
Future Roadmap
Scalable data gathering/submission methods; include third-party observers; devise incentives for teachers using NFTs/blockchain.
Research tools/processes to study short/medium/long-term impact on skill development, academic/social outcomes.
AI tools to include adaptive/personalised learning, feedback/guidance, customised lesson plans/assignments based on performance/queries/behaviour.
Targeted pilots in different contexts: generate open-source data. Establish platform for ongoing research.
KYC upgrades to provide necessary legal and financial safeguards as the platform scales
Which of the following categories best describes your solution?
A new technology
How do you know that this technology works?
Rangeet was included in this Brookings Institution’s November 2022 report that features Digital Tools from around the world that leverage real-time data collection and visualisation in education.
Rangeet has been classified under typology D as below - i.e. tools that enable data collection, data analysis & visualisation and enable content delivery. One of only 3 such solutions globally.
Selected testimonials from teachers, researchers, and NGO partners who have used the Rangeet app successfully in real classroom settings across diverse settings:
“Running a program across various centres located in different geographical areas can prove to be quite a challenge. Rangeet organises all of their content and modules in one very easy to use application. The detailed summary of assessments as well as student feedback makes it very easy for us to monitor their progress and study the impact of the project on our children.”
Dhruv Jayal, Manager IT, Aasraa Trust, India
“Rangeet is a remarkable educational program. Its evidence inspired approach helps children become kinder to themselves, society and the world. Rangeet is also notable for its educational technology. By consulting the Rangeet app, teachers receive an array of instructional resources to promote student learning via hands-on activities. Lastly, Rangeet shows an impressive level of adaptability through its implementation across languages and cultures”
Elias Blinkoff, Department of Psychology, Temple University, USA
“Aasraa Trust has successfully implemented Rangeet, a comprehensive learning system that imparts life skills and values, in Aasraa's 9 government partner schools under its SQEP (School Quality Enhancement Program model). This innovative system has positively impacted over 1500 children and 40 teachers, providing a logically designed curriculum, teaching plans, and assessments. Educationists will find Rangeet to be an invaluable resource, with its user-friendly app and coaching and mentoring support available 24/7. The in-depth guidance and support provided by the Rangeet team have been greatly appreciated by the staff at Aasraa.”
Neelu Khana, Trustee , Aasraa Trust, India
“Rangeet provides different tools that help to effectively communicate with the students and understand things from their perspective.Through some music, fun-filled activities, roleplays etc. it is easy to reach out to every kid in the classroom. The detailed mobile application and well structured lesson plans are easy to implement. Hats off to the Rangeet Team, you are making a difference!”
Seema Venugopal, Principal, Global Public Schools, India
“Rangeet provides teachers with a truly joyful and engaging way of working with children. With lessons focused on mindfulness, empathy, anti-bullying, gender equity and building an appreciation for nature - it enables children to face the world with confidence, and to make better choices, especially in these challenging times. Our teachers and children have thoroughly enjoyed the teaching learning process through this easy and interactive app, which importantly includes impact measurement.”
Kreeanne Rabadi, Regional Director, CRY, India
Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:
If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:
www.projectrangeet.com. Play Store - https://bit.ly/3XPFRPc App Store - https://apple.co/3OWWCUw
In which countries do you currently operate?
In which countries will you be operating within the next year?
What type of organization is your solution team?
For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models
How many people work on your solution team?
5 full-time; 4 part-time
How long have you been working on your solution?
5 years
What is your approach to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusivity into your work?
Two of the three founders, and one executive/stakeholder, are women.
The team comprises people from varying socioeconomic, geographical and religious backgrounds. However, we are all open-minded individuals who want to make a difference, many having lived and experienced the issues we tackle in our content eg, discrimination, education inequality, mental health issues.
Between us, we have lived all over the world, worked in a variety of organisations from schools, to education start-ups, investment banking to film production, law firms, hedge funds, live music venues to NGOs. This diversity of experience means that collectively we have had many years of meeting and appreciating people from different walks of life and learning to embrace the differences we see in the world, rather than using them as weapons to tear us apart.
We believe that just as biodiversity ensures strength in natural systems, diversity in human systems is an essential requirement for achieving learning and societal equity. And we don't want to create a company that tackles issues that have already been done, but to face up to the issues that are hard to talk about especially in the developing world like LGBTQIA, Body Positivity and Gender.
Our work is all about diversity and inclusion, and we strive to build a world in which nature and society are at peace.
What is your business model?
Rangeet operates in an area identified by experts as critical, developing skills children need to thrive. It is affordable by the most marginalised schools/communities.
As previously stated, the NEP and CBSE have acknowledged that education needs to be repurposed for 400 million Indian children. In February 2023, Brookings CUE proclaimed urgency for the SDGs and developing a breadth of skills using active pedagogies. Across India/Global South, in the public/private sector, there will be demand for “Rangeet-like” programs which measurably prepare children for the future.
Rangeet is a SaaS, charging USD 2.50-3.00/child per year. To put this in perspective, India spends USD500, Indonesia USD1,500 and Western Europe in the range of USD10-20k/child per year in public schools.
We meet growing demand, achieving scale and standards at an affordable price:
Teachers, parents and communities are involved. The burden doesn’t fall just on educators.
Rapid experimentation, data driven decision-making and improvement at low cost without causing upheavals/disruptions.
Contextualisation, infusion into the core curriculum, and importantly, iterative, formative and summative assessments.
Designed for the lowest resource settings.
Business Development:
I. Government Schools: Large recurring revenues/impact. Partnering with Indian Corporates to run 3-4 year pilots in government schools. Post pilot plan contemplates statewide adoption with the government taking over costs. The government can experiment at no cost; Corporate spends CSR funds associating itself with a state-wide program, later redirecting funds to implement SEEK elsewhere; NGO partner implements on the ground; Rangeet provides app+curriculum+training+support. Private/Public coalition.
II. Affordable Private Schools: 400,000 schools in India alone will be in need of such programs. Given our ability to scale at low cost anywhere, we can deliver value and impact here. Building a digital and traditional outreach team to fulfil this need.
III. Partnerships: As demand grows from states and schools, publishers will require quality teaching material like Rangeet’s SEEK program. We are positioned to distribute SEEK digitally and physically direct to all learners and are in discussions with a leading global publisher targeting a partnership by Q2 2023-24. Additionally we are establishing partnerships with a UK based education think-tank to deliver SEEK to state governments in Africa/India and with a South African Teacher Training Institution. NGO partners in India/Bangladesh intend to scale programs in the next 12 months.
IV. Rangeet as a Tech Platform: Educators are stumbling to build solutions that work; edtech companies are leading with technology rather than trying to solve educational problems. Rangeet was designed to solve an education problem in a human-centric manner. The platform is curriculum-agnostic and fulfils the needs of educators/NGOs who aim to scale their own programs cost effectively. We are in talks with several large NGOs in India in this regard, thereby delivering value as a technology partner and/or curriculum developer.
By creating a platform (tech+curriculum) that is modular and flexible, Rangeet is positioned to solve multiple educational challenges fulfilling diverse needs.
Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?
Organizations (B2B)What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable?
Financial sustainability by focus area listed above:
Government Schools:
Long duration recurring revenue contracts. Good quality teachers means less intervention from Rangeet, NGO partner does on-ground execution, Rangeet provides tech+curriculum+support.
As per the Census 2011, the population of the average sized Indian state is approximately 70 million.
On average about 15% of the population of a state comprises school children. Hence, one can benchmark the population of students at 10 million children per state. The opportunity size is therefore an annual recurring revenue of about USD30 million per year per state @USD3/child per year)
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) strategy papers will “bless” our approach.
Pilots in progress. Aim to convert one or two to stable long-term contracts:
NGO with funding from a corporate partner in 6 states: in discussions to expand engagement
Corporate partners funding programs in 2 states
Trust in Uttarakhand: in discussions to expand engagement
Direct conversation with Government of Madhya Pradesh in the pipeline
II. Affordable Private Schools
We are building a team and are aiming to penetrate 0.5% of the 400,000 schools i.e. 20,000 schools with a goal of conservatively impacting ~500,000 children.
A typical sales cycle is 3 months. Aim to crunch this with the new NCF policy framework being announced. Revenues to accrue from 2024.
III. Partnerships:
Rangeet has signed an NDA and MoU with a publisher who will distribute our content in print and digital form direct-to-learners in India. The said publisher has a digital footprint of 200,000+ students and growing and print distribution of 10+ million students. This is in the private schooling space and in particular the top 40,000 schools in India.
The partnership contemplates Rangeet accruing licensing fees from the publisher for our contributions to their digital and print assets.
Our current costs: are approximately USD300,000 which will scale proportionately with growth.
IV. Rangeet as a Tech Platform:
We are in talks with a few NGOs / teacher training institutions seeking to upgrade their delivery from paper based solutions to measurable/trackable digital platforms. Leveraging our tech for other organisations to use represents a diversified revenue stream which will contribute to us achieving financial sustainability.
EQUITY: To hire the right team, invest in marketing, sales, technology, we have raised funding by way of a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE).
The funding and current confirmed revenues will help us achieve financial stability and provide a stable platform from which to execute our plans.
Solution Team
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Renisha Bharvani Rangeet
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Ms Karishma Menon Founder, Rangeet
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SM
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Mr Simran Mulchandani Founder & CEO, Rangeet
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Our Organization
Rangeet Private Limited