Why Now?
India’s Critical Moment
India stands at a critical moment:
NEP 2020 and Samagra Shiksha offer renewed policy support for equity, including a crucial focus on early childhood care and education, providing a framework for collaboration with initiatives like ICDS.
The future of jobs and technology demands new skills that many schools aren’t yet teaching.
Post-pandemic learning losses have widened already deep gaps.
Public and philanthropic interest in systemic reform is growing.
Now is the time to invest in children’s futures—and build a generation that can break free from inherited limitations.
India’s Leadership in Self-Directed Learning
With its scale, diversity, and constitutional commitment to equity, India is uniquely positioned to validate SDL models that are:
Culturally embedded:
Adapting to diverse traditions, caste-gender considerations, and multilingualism.
Low-cost and high-impact:
Scalable without overreliance on expensive proprietary technology.
Contextually relevant for the Global South:
Especially for regions in Africa, ASEAN, and Latin America.
Vidya Vihar Trust’s work aims to contribute to India’s position as the Global SDL Laboratory, demonstrating how a large-scale, pluralistic democracy can institutionalize Self-Directed Learning across all formal, non-formal, and informal systems. This isn’t just about educational reform; it’s a civilizational offering: the idea that the freedom to learn is the first freedom, and from it, all others follow.