ShikshaNext introduces 11 EdTech and AI Solutions for children in the 4-10 age group across its EdTech ScaleX and EdTech Accelerator pillars

ShikshaNext, the 3-year, INR 170-crore multi-donor initiative aimed at improving learning outcomes for children across India by leveraging EdTech and AI, on September 22 announced the next phase of its journey with the selection of 11 solutions across its EdTech ScaleX and EdTech Accelerator pillars.

The announcement moves the ShikshaNext initiative from vision to execution, aiming to bring evidence-backed and emerging EdTech and AI solutions closer to classrooms and state government systems by 2029. ShikshaNext is anchored by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Reliance Foundation, and Gates Foundation as Founding Strategic Partners, with Central Square Foundation as the Managing Partner. The Initiative is also supported by Anthropic as a Supporting Partner.

This Initiative further brings together three interconnected pillars, each addressing a different stage of the EdTech innovation pipeline: EdTech ScaleX focuses on improving learning outcomes at scale by taking proven solutions into government systems and enabling their effective adoption; the EdTech Accelerator strengthens the pipeline of promising solutions as they are being built, tested and refined; and the EdTech and AI Innovation Hub tackles some of the unsolved problem statements that could shape the next generation of technology and AI-led education solutions.

Underpinning these three pillars is a sustained commitment to rigorous evidence generation: this involves not just building proof that a solution works, but also understanding how it performs in real government systems, what makes implementation effective for students, parents and teachers, and what it takes to translate promising solutions into sustained impact at scale.

Five solutions have been selected under EdTech ScaleX, serving children in the 4-10 age group:

1. Chimple by Sutara Learning: Teacher-directed, at-home gamified mobile learning solution; validated by a randomised controlled trial (RCT) by Prof. Kartini Shastry, Wellesley College and Prof. Sheetal Sekhri, University of Virginia (2024)
2. Rocket Learning: Playful, WhatsApp-based home-learning; validated by a J-PAL RCT (2023)
3. Top Parent by Nudged: Pan-India, parent-facing solution for at-home learning; validated by a quasi-experimental study under the guidance of Prof. Tarun Jain, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (2026)
4. Prakashak by ThinkZone: WhatsApp-based at-home learning programme validated by a quasi-experimental study under the guidance of Prof. Tarun Jain, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (2026)
5. Youth Impact: Phone-based remedial Math learning; validated by a five-country RCT by Dr Noam Angrist et al. (2025)

Through its portfolio of five solutions, EdTech ScaleX will aim to improve learning outcomes at scale by targeting 8 million+ students.

Six solutions have been selected under the EdTech Accelerator, serving children in the 4-10 age group:

1. Darsel: 1:1 personalised WhatsApp chatbot for math practice at-home
2. Eedi: AI native WhatsApp based socratic personal tutor for math remediation at-home
3. TARA ORF by Prosical Language Technologies: Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessment, analysis, and student remediation at-home
4. PadhAI by Pratham Education Foundation: Offline ORF assessment, analysis, and student remediation at-home
5. Vowels of the People Association (VOPA): ORF assessment, analysis and student remediation for both literacy and numeracy skills at-home
6. VallamAI by Madhi Foundation: AI-powered teacher-support tool for assessments, coaching, and lesson planning

Through the EdTech Accelerator, these six solutions will work on building the evidence and capabilities needed to translate promising innovations into solutions that can ultimately scale.

Together, these 11 solutions will forge a new pathway for EdTech and AI-enabled learning in India, strengthening learning outcomes for millions of children and building the evidence that turns bold ideas into lasting impact at scale.

Ishmeet Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Central Square Foundation, said, “Selecting these 11 solutions is where ShikshaNext’s ambition starts to become tangible. Five of them are already backed by independent evidence and are ready to work with governments at scale; the other six are building the next generation of AI-enabled solutions for India’s classrooms. Bringing proven, scale-ready solutions together with emerging AI innovations and generating the evidence needed to move both forward is what makes this more than a portfolio of grants. It is a pathway designed to help early stage innovations to travel to institutional state adoption and integration into the governance mechanism.”