Going to School Fund

Founded in 2003, Going to School Fund (The Fund) is a non-governmental organization that works with schools across India to teach entrepreneurial skills to the poorest and most marginalized children. Under a previous MacArthur award, The Fund used skills-driven stories to teach a skills curriculum to students in grade 9 in one district in state of Bihar. The aim of this work was to prepare students for livelihood opportunities, and promote transition to and retention in secondary school. The project has since been implemented in a number of districts in the state. This award enables the Fund to enhance its program by including additional components, assessing and disseminating findings from the project, and conducting advocacy strategies for scaling this program in Bihar and in other states.

Going to School Fund (GTS) is a non-governmental organization that works with schools across India to teach entrepreneurial skills to the poorest and most marginalized children. GTS will use skills-driven stories to teach a skills curriculum to students in grades 8 and 9 in the state of Bihar with the aim of preparing students for livelihood opportunities, and promoting transition to and retention in secondary school. It is expected that about half the students targeted for the implementation will be girls; there will be a special effort to orient teachers to address the needs of female students. GTS will partner with a specialized agency to implement a rigorous evaluation of the model.