“In order to make meaningful changes to the way we work, don't start with a mammoth challenge. Start small.”
Micro-improvements cater to the objective of making the improvement process easy, simple, and achievable for every teacher and leader in the education system. The approach uses the ‘learning by doing’ concept.
Micro Improvements are enabled through Digital Projects and are available to leaders at all levels through the National Infrastructure for Education - DIKSHA. This is aligned to the ‘Learn - Do- Practice’ of NDEAR (Building Block 9 under the Manage Learn scenario for Administrator Persona).
The Need
The National Education Policy has laid out inspiring objectives for the school education system. Different actors in the ecosystem will need to work together to ensure that students get the desired conducive learning environment. This will also necessitate new behaviours and practices to be learnt and practised by the stakeholders. Bringing these changes at a systemic level can become a long, overwhelming and daunting process for the stakeholders to undertake.
Hence their capacity will need to be developed such that they develop the muscle for innovation, problem solving and leading continuous micro-improvements in a +1 manner.
The Solution Approach
It is an approach that helps the stakeholder to break down a big idea into clear actionable tasks & modify it to suit their context. It bridges the gap between concepts, evidence and practice. The frequent wins experienced through micro-level changes in school eventually feed into a continuous improvement cycle across the education system. Making micro improvements each day repetitively over a period of time will also lead to compounding growth and mega impact across the system. Thus it brings a huge opportunity to transform various ‘learning’ initiatives into ‘learning to improve’ initiatives.
Click here to access the detailed standard operating procedure to roll out Micro Improvement Projects.
Adoption Across States
Translating the learning from workshops to workspace has been a perennial challenge. Several states are now adopting the micro-improvement approach to design their flagship programs with the singular motto of ‘Learn To Improve’. In September 2021, Uttar Pradesh became the first state to use the approach under Mission Prerna. The state enabled its school heads to design and implement a project to celebrate, appreciate and motivate teachers on the occasion of Shikshak Parv.
In January 2022, a 100-day Reading Campaign was launched by the Ministry of Education. Headmasters and School Heads in the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry applied the micro improvements approach to implement the campaign. More than 50,000 improvement projects were undertaken reflecting the positive energy the approach has been able to create.
Click here to access the guide for school leaders to transform their schools.
The Ecosystem
Ecosystem partners like Central / State Government organisations, private players, civil societies (NGOs, NPOs, etc.) can :
- Energise their learning programs by adding the element of Micro-Improvement Projects attached to each learning topic.
- Leverage the open-source building blocks used to develop Micro-Improvement Projects, to roll-out micro-improvements- inspired programs in your context for empowering stakeholders with the ability to “Act and Solve”
- Enhance and contribute to the open-source building blocks used for Micro-Improvement Projects development.