Million Sparks Foundation (MSF) a mobile-centric not-for-profit focused on teacher capacity building, seed funded by Central Square Foundation, has raised $1.2 million from Google.org
MSF has developed ChalkLit – a mobile centred platform focused on teacher capacity building. It combines bite-sized, curriculum-aligned content with an online community supporting teachers to improve their conceptual and pedagogical understanding. Teachers can download the ChalkLit application on their smartphones or access the platform on the web.
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The content can be accessed in the form of topic-based training designed to help teachers understand a topic comprehensively, or in the form of in-class resources which include an annual plan and a lesson plan with all resources required to be able to conduct a single high-quality class.
In September 2016, the Delhi State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) selected MSF as their online capacity building program partner and began using ChalkLit to provide in-service training for all their school teachers.
Central Square Foundation (CSF) is a venture philanthropy fund and policy think tank focused on improving learning outcomes and quality of school education for children for low-income communities in India.
Ashish Dhawan, Founder and Chairman, Central Square Foundation, said,
“By providing access to training programs through a mobile application, Million Sparks Foundation is trying to build a culture of continuous professional development among teachers. We are excited about the potential of ChalkLit to reach over 60000 teachers across Delhi in the next 2 years.”
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, supports nonprofits that innovate to address humanitarian issues. Google.org was created to pursue, experiment with, and build upon ideas to improve the world, and continues to take an iterative approach to philanthropy today.
Google.org develops and invests in pursuits that can have a measurable impact on local, regional and global issues, and rallies Google’s people in support of these efforts with a singular goal of creating a better world, faster.
Google.org saw great potential in the leadership team of Million Sparks Foundation and the hypothesis that the ChalkLit platform is based on. With this belief, they decided to support MSF’s work and growth.
Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Education Lead, Google.org says,
“We’re committing US$50M over the next two years to support nonprofits who are building tech-based learning solutions that tackle challenges in education. To start, we’re funding nine innovative organisations around the world that we will also support with Googler volunteers and are excited to see the impact of their work.”
Million Sparks Foundation (MSF), founded in July 2016, is a technology-led education initiative providing resources for Teacher Capacity Building and enabling teachers to connect and communicate with a virtual community. It is working towards ensuring that every child in the world has an access to a great teacher.
Dr. Mona Mathur, Founder, Million Sparks Foundation who is also an adjunct faculty with IIT Delhi shares, “With the support of Google.org’s grant funding, Googler volunteerism, and product donations, MSF will work to make ChalkLit a really effective tool for all teachers”.
Dr. Abhinav Mathur, Founder, Million sparks Foundation shares, “We are extremely excited to collaborate with Google.org which will further transcend our efforts in developing better tools for teachers.”He added, “With the support of Google.org, we would organize ourselves to improve our capabilities and work to empower 1 million teachers by 2020”.
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