Shikha Institute is an education research and development organisation working to solve systemic problems in Indian education.
India has greatly expanded access to education. However, too many students pass through school without developing the knowledge, capabilities and dispositions they need to thrive. Education systems frequently respond through separate interventions: a new textbook, a teacher-training workshop, a technology platform, an assessment programme or an infrastructure initiative. Each may address a genuine need, but its impact remains constrained when the surrounding system does not support it.
Learning goals influence curriculum. Curriculum shapes teaching. Assessment determines what schools prioritise. Educator capability affects how well each element is implemented. School conditions influence whether teachers and students can perform effectively. Governance, technology and institutional capacity determine whether improvement can be sustained. Lasting reform therefore requires these elements to be designed, implemented and improved as one coherent system.
Each laboratory studies a defined educational problem and builds an evidence base.
Research is translated into clear, adaptable frameworks for educational practice.
Frameworks become practical curricula, tools, platforms, resources and systems.
Ideas and products are implemented in real educational environments and studied in use.
Evidence from field sites is used to refine the work and strengthen the next cycle.
Shikha’s work is guided by a set of core design philosophies. They shape how we define educational quality, how we design solutions, how we test them, and how we scale them across schools and systems.
Start with clear, relevant, and aspirational goals before designing the solution.
Every structure, program and resource begins with a clearly defined educational purpose. Activities and technologies are selected according to how well they advance that purpose.
For new aspirational goals, you need new innovative solutions.
We examine the underlying causes of a problem before choosing a solution. Existing practices are retained when they serve the intended purpose and redesigned when they do not.
Allow freedom for innovation, but build structures for quality.
Effective education requires professional judgement within clear boundaries. Shikha creates common goals, standards, tools and safeguards while preserving meaningful autonomy for educators and institutions.
Learn constantly, test locally, and scale what works in a continuous cycle.
Ideas are developed and tested in real educational environments before wider adoption. Implementation at scale is treated as a continuing source of evidence rather than the final step in a linear process.
Align every aspect of the system to your goals and strengthen it for self-sufficiency.
Every intervention is considered in relation to the wider system. We examine how incentives, institutions, people, processes, resources and technologies interact and where change must be coordinated.
Karishma Shanghvi is the founder and director of the Shikha Institute. Karishma holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She graduated from the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School, a B.A.S. in Bioengineering, an M.S. in Biotechnology and a minor in South Asian Studies, all from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
As Founding Principal of Shikha Academy, Snehal comes with an experience of more than three decades of teaching and leading international curricula. Snehal holds a Masters degree in Physics and a Post Graduate Advanced Diploma in Educational Technology.
She strongly believes that there is no end to learning and is on a mission to inspire children to become life-long learners. True to this belief, Snehal obtained a Certificate in School Management and Leadership by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is currently pursing a Master in Data Science and AI from BITS Pilani.
Dr. T. G. Lakshmi, with 18 years of experience, holds a Ph.D. from IIT Bombay’s EdTech department. Recognized with the ‘Future DigiLeader 2020’ award by Digital Futures @ Stockholm, she is an education researcher specializing in design, implementation and evaluation of edTech interventions. She has led impactful projects in the education social sector, including a large-scale edTech implementation and the conceptualization of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy project.