Building Strong Foundations for Early Learners
Empowering children aged 3-10 with literacy, numeracy, nutrition and community support for lifelong learning success.
Ages 3-10: Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Foundational Literacy/ Numeracy (FLN)
Numerous developmental studies show that significant brain growth occurs in children at a surprisingly young age. Early environmental influences and inputs have a direct impact on their future, well beyond schooling. Yet many young children enrolled in schools are failing to learn the basics, particularly in countries such as India.
Our programs tackle these issues at student, teacher and community levels.
Central Square Foundation (CSF)
CSF, founded in 2012, has a mission to create effective, scalable and sustainable change in the school education system in India, ensuring that all children get equal access to learning opportunities.
Indira Foundation has invested in CSF’s foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) for grades 1-3 in government schools across five states in India.
Additionally, we are expanding our CSF partnership in select areas of several states to (1) improve early childhood education (ECE) for preschoolers, and (2) supercharge gifted and talented students.
Social Impact and Reach
Improved reading and math scores for 10 million students in 3-10 age group between 2026 and 2030.
Social Impact and Reach
100% IMPROVEMENT IN SCHOOL READINESS (GRADE 1) AND 40% IMPROVEMENT IN ANGANWADI WORKER CAPACITY.
QUEST
Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST), established in 2007, seeks to improve learning outcomes for preschoolers in low-resource settings. It uses a two-pronged approach of localized content and ‘training the trainers’.
Our partnership with QUEST since 2022 improves the school-readiness of 3,500 children (ages 3-6) in 159 pre-school ‘Anganwadis’ (neighborhood childcare centers established by the government) in Dhanora block of Gadchiroli, one of the poorest districts in Maharashtra state. Starting 2026, we will support an expansion to cover the entire Amaravati district, covering 100,000 preschoolers in 2,500+ Anganwadis
Room To Read
Room to Read, a global nonprofit founded in 2000, aspires to improve literacy levels for first- and second- graders in India. It achieves this in multiple ways: improving oral language and vocabulary skills in students, establishing libraries, augmenting teacher capabilities and engaging local communities.
Indira Foundation has partnered with Room to Read since 2022 to achieve 100% literacy in 220,000 primary school children in 2,595 government schools in Jodhpur district in Rajasthan by 2027.
Social Impact and Reach
40% literacy in 80,000 primary school children in 2025.
Social Impact and Reach
3.25 million midday meals for 7,000 students in two states over 2 years.
The Akshaya Patra Foundation
The Akshaya Patra Foundation runs a midday meal program to meaningfully improve the nutritional quality for 2.25 million children across 23,000+ schools in India.
Indira Foundation’s funding covers meals for 7,000 students in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh and Puri, Odisha. Additionally, we’ve funded vehicle purchase for meal delivery.
Other Funded Education Programs – Past and Present
Indira Foundation plays a strategic role in supporting multiple education programs across various disciplines.
Wildflower USA
An ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools in multiple states of USA, often in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Indira Foundation supports teachers to start their own schools and reach a steady state.
Educate Girls
An NGO that works with the government, community and village-based volunteers and mentors to ensure every girl in the remotest parts of India is included, educated and empowered with choices and voices.
Parivaar
A nonprofit organization dedicated to the holistic development of vulnerable children with a focus on remote tribal communities.
RK Mission Awakened Citizen Programme
A structured, values-based education initiative designed for middle school students (Grades 6–8) to foster self-awareness, critical thinking and ethical action.