Pratham Receives Prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award

“Pratham has expanded the scope of education in resource-constrained areas using simple tools to assess learning and scientific evidence to develop cost-effective programs that drastically improve learning levels.” — Jury citation

The Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) Foundation bestowed the Frontiers of Knowledge Award to Pratham for their 20 years of innovative advancement in the field of education. The award recognizes our ability to make a broad impact by reaching three million children annually through its learning strategies, which group students by ability rather than age to accelerate reading and math skills.

A Powerful Voice in Education

Pratham’s belief in working with state and local governments to bring about change, led to our Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which measures the quality of education. Pratham co-founder and CEO Dr. Madhav Chavan explains, “The government had just created a new tax to fund education, and we thought citizens deserved to know if their money was being used effectively and efficiently.”

Our programs mobilize trained volunteers and take education into even the remotest of communities. Ongoing rigorous evaluation ensures an effective model, which has been scaled up and successfully implemented by other developing countries across Asia and Africa.

According to Dr. Chavan, it’s the simplest things that work best: “What doesn’t work is to pursue multiple goals at the same time. It’s important to concentrate on reading, writing and numeracy. When you achieve that critical goal, then you can move on to other things.”

Read more about the award.

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