One low-cost change imrproves learning for 80 million children

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In much of the developing world, children fail to learn not because the classroom is built around their age instead of their level. Indian NGO Pratham built a simple fix.

Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) is an approach that groups children by their inherent learning levels, rather than their age. Rigorously proven and low-cost, it is effective and affordable at national scale.

THE PLACE
India and Africa

THE INVESTMENT
One structural fix, not a new curriculum.

THE WIN
80M+ children reached; gains of 0.15 to 0.7 SD; under 10 US dollars per child per year 

THE PROBLEM

The biggest barrier to learning is often the classroom itself. Across many developing countries, children sit in multi-grade classrooms where teaching is far ahead than what students can do.

This results in learners falling further behind every year on basic reading, mathematics, and other skills.

While the enrolment battle was won across South Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries, learning remained low. 9 out of 10 ten-year-olds still cannot read and understand a simple story. The reason is structural. Schools are organized by age and grade; teachers are expected to finish an official curriculum; and children who miss the foundations are pushed forward regardless.

The gap compounds silently until, by upper primary, many children are years behind a curriculum written for someone else.

TAKING ACTION

Pratham's response was simple. Assess each child directly with a short one-on-one tool that sorts reading and arithmetic into a few clear levels. Group children by that level rather than their grade. Give them a dedicated daily block with activity-based lessons pitched exactly where they are and re-assess often so they move up as they master each step.

The approach became known as Teaching at the Right Level. J-PAL researchers then did something rare in education: they tested it, hard, repeatedly. 

 

INVESTMENT SUCCESS!

Tested in more than a dozen randomized trials over two decades, TaRL is now one of the most rigorously proven and lowest-cost education improvements. It has reached over 80 million children.

The lesson: the highest-return investment in education is not more content or more technology; it is teaching children at the level they are actually at. 

KEY WINS

80M+ children reached across India and Africa (as of 2025) 

Under $10 per child per year, at government scale 

2 to 3x more likely to read a paragraph or solve subtraction 

WHY INVESTMENT WORKED

Success came from recognising a structural cause of low attainment, and addressing that cause directly.

One structural fix, not a new curriculum

Assess, group by level, teach at level, re-assess. Cheap materials, existing teachers, no expensive technology.

A protected block in the school day

The gains show up when the level-based hour is mandated and protected, not squeezed into the margins.

In-system mentors, not parallel NGO staff

Governments train their own officials as coaches and champions, so the model rides existing systems instead of building a shadow one.

Evidence used as a design tool

More than a dozen randomised trials refined what works and stripped out what does not, turning a good idea into a proven one.

Data that feeds teaching, not ranking

Assessment exists to find who is behind and adjust, never to punish.

Radically low cost

Typically under 10 US dollars per child per year, making it affordable for governments at national scale.

RESULTS AND EVIDENCE

TaRL is among the most heavily evaluated education interventions in the world, with at least six randomised trials in India over two decades and a fast-growing body in Africa.

Well-implemented programmes produce learning gains of roughly 0.15 to 0.7 standard deviations in basic literacy and numeracy. In recent African programmes the share of children who could read a simple paragraph rose by 12 to 32 percentage points, and children in TaRL classes are two to three times more likely to read a paragraph or solve a subtraction problem within 100 days. 

SCALE AND SPREAD

TaRL principles are now written into India’s national policy through the NIPUN Bharat foundational learning mission under the 2020 National Education Policy.

In Africa, TaRL Africa, a joint venture of Pratham and J-PAL founded in 2015 and independent since 2019, has helped governments and partners reach more than 7 million children across 17 or more countries from its base in Nairobi.

Zambia and Cote d'Ivoire have formally adopted the approach into their public systems; seven states in Nigeria have taken it up, five of them funding it from their own budgets. As of 2025, TaRL has reached over 80 million children across India and Africa combined. 

PARTNERS AND PHILANTHROPY

The model was built and proven with philanthropic and research backing, then scaled through government ownership. Pratham created it; J-PAL supplied the evidence, and TaRL Africa carries it across the continent.

Catalytic funders including Co-Impact, UNICEF, the British Council and USAID's Development Innovation Ventures funded early pilots and scale-up.

The Zambia scale-up is a textbook case of philanthropic money crowding in government and bilateral finance until the state itself rolled the programme out nationwide. Philanthropy's role has been to de-risk and prove, then hand the wheel to government. 

TaRL AT A GLANCE

WHERE

India (origin); 17+ countries in Sub-Saharan Africa; pilots in Latin America and MENA 

FOUNDED BY

Pratham 1995; TaRL approach formalized in the early 2010s; TaRL Africa 2015 

LED BY

Pratham, J-PAL and TaRL Africa; founders Madhav Chavan and Rukmini Banerji 

FOCUS

Foundational literacy and numeracy; remedial and accelerated learning 

CORE IDEA

Group and teach children by assessed learning level, not by age 

HEADLINE RESULT

80M+ children reached; gains of 0.15 to 0.7 SD; under 10 US dollars per child per year 

EVIDENCE

Six or more RCTs over two decades; GEEAP great buy

 

PHILANTHROPY

Co-Impact, UNICEF, USAID DIV, British Council and others; government-financed at scale 

SCALE

National adoption in Zambia and Cote d'Ivoire; 7 states in Nigeria; NIPUN Bharat in India 

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