ThinkZone

06/08/2026

Thank you to Indian School of Public Policy (ISPP) for honoring ThinkZone with the Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Award 2026.

We're grateful to be named alongside Jyothish VM and shishir joshi, whose work reflects the many ways thoughtful ideas can create public impact.

At ThinkZone, behavioral design is at the heart of how we work, helping make it easier for parents and educators to engage consistently in children's learning through simple, timely, and practical interventions.

We're grateful to our team, partners, and the parents and educators who make this work possible.

Every meaningful change begins with someone who chooses to act.

Congratulations to the winners of the Cheistha Kochhar Nudge Awards 2026:
• Jyothish VM
• ⁠Binayak Acharya
• Shishir Joshi

Your work is a reminder that lasting impact is built through purpose, persistence and action.

04/08/2026

We're delighted to welcome Anushka Singh Deo to our ThinkZone team!

Anushka joins us with experience from Teach For India, where she worked closely with classrooms, educators, and communities to improve learning outcomes. Her journey reflects a strong commitment to equitable education and creating opportunities for every child to thrive.

At ThinkZone, she'll be contributing to our mission of ensuring every child has access to quality foundational learning. We're excited to have her on this journey and look forward to the perspectives and experience she'll bring.

03/08/2026

As part of our program PRAKASHAK (Parent’s Remote Assistance and Knowledge Support for Holistic Advancement of Kids), parents regularly receive bite-sized learning videos on different topics, each ending with a simple activity they can do at home with their children.

Videos make it easier for families to participate. The activities are explained in Odia, step by step, so parents can join in without needing to read written instructions. This allows more families to be part of their child's learning journey.

One of the recent activities used leaves, stones, flowers, and sticks to help children practice counting. It builds early numeracy skills using materials already available at home, while making it easy for parents to participate in the learning process.

30/07/2026

Congratulations, Chinmaya Barik, on another amazing year at ThinkZone!

Over the past years, Chinmaya has been leading our on-the-ground activities, supporting parents and educators in being part of children’s learning journeys. His dedication and creativity have played a key role in amplifying our impact and taking us to new heights. We’re truly grateful for his contributions to our mission.

Here’s to continuing this incredible journey together and reaching even greater milestones!

28/07/2026

A teacher in a government school. A House Mother/Father in a Child Care Institution. Both play a vital role in shaping children's futures. Yet both have historically had limited access to continuous professional development.

Over the past year, we rolled out the NIPUN Odisha App statewide, supporting over 100,000 teachers and CRCCs across Odisha. Nearly 90% of educators have consistently participated in capacity-building sessions. We also integrated a real-time dashboard into the state's education system, enabling block and district officials to track progress and provide timely support.

For educators in Child Care Institutions, we expanded our work across Puri, Jajpur, and Cuttack, while adding Dhenkanal as a new district this year.

This year also marked another milestone with the introduction of AI-powered features to the platform, including Odia text recognition, digitized classroom observation tools, and automated data capture that makes classroom monitoring faster, more accurate, and more actionable.

Professional development shouldn't be a one-time event. It should be continuous, accessible, and embedded within the education system.

Read more in our 2025-26 Annual Report. Link in the comments.

27/07/2026

We are delighted to welcome Monika to our ThinkZone team!

Monika joins us as a Program Associate and will play a key role in strengthening our on-ground program implementation to support parents and educators in developing children's foundational skills.

So glad to have you with us, Monika. Looking forward to the journey ahead together.

24/07/2026

Over the past year, our flagship parental engagement program, PRAKASHAK, showed how empowering parents can improve children's learning outcomes at scale.

Implemented in partnership with the Government of Odisha, the program is embedded within the public education system, enabling parents to actively support learning at home. Families received structured, curriculum-aligned learning activities in Odia through accessible technology solutions such as WhatsApp, SMS, and voice calls.

This year, we introduced Bina Didi, an AI-enabled pedagogy agent co-developed with the Government of Odisha, to provide parents with more personalized and responsive learning support. We also launched a Personalized Adaptive Learning layer that tailors activities to each child's learning needs, while all content continues to be reviewed and validated by SCERT Odisha.

To strengthen implementation, the program also equips education leaders at the cluster, block, district, and state levels with real-time dashboards to monitor progress and make data-informed decisions.

The result: 1.4 million children impacted across Odisha.
An independent evaluation found that children participating in the program learned 1.5× faster than those in regular schooling.

Read more in our 2025-26 Annual Report. Link in the comments.

22/07/2026

Improving learning outcomes begins with empowering teachers.

Through our Empower Educators program, implemented under the NIPUN Odisha Mission, we are strengthening Odisha's public education system at scale by equipping teachers with tools to simplify their work, high-quality resources, and continuous professional development through the NIPUN Odisha App. This digital support is complemented by regular in-person training, workshops, and mentoring sessions, ensuring teachers receive both online and offline support to enhance classroom practice.

21/07/2026

"As an educator, I had very few opportunities for regular professional development and support. The ThinkZone App has helped me continuously strengthen my skills while better supporting children's learning." -Minakhi, Educator, CCI, Puri district

When conversations around education focus on children, it is easy to overlook a simple reality that educators need opportunities to learn too.

For many educators, professional development is not a one-time workshop or a certificate. It is the ability to access support consistently, reflect on practice, try new approaches, and gradually build confidence in their work.

Perhaps this is why Minakhi's reflection stayed with us. She does not speak about transformation overnight. She speaks about continuous opportunities to learn, improve, and support children.

At ThinkZone, this belief shapes our Empower Educators programme. Through digital tools, mentorship, and in-person support, we work with teachers, educators in Child Care Institutions, and communities to strengthen pedagogical practices and 21st-century skills.

Because when educators continue learning, children benefit from environments that continue learning too.

20/07/2026

Why do some children continue learning after the school bell rings while others don't?

It's a question we often find ourselves returning to.

In education, we understandably spend a lot of time thinking about classrooms, teachers, and learning materials. But over time, one observation that has stayed with us is that learning rarely happens in isolation.

A child's learning journey is shaped not only by what happens in school, but also by what happens around them. A parent asking what they learned today. An older sibling helping with an activity. A community that values and encourages learning. Opportunities to explore, practise, and stay curious beyond school hours.
These moments may seem small, but together, they create an ecosystem that can sustain learning long after the school day ends.

Perhaps the question isn't only how we improve learning in classrooms.

It's also, How do we build environments where learning feels possible, encouraged, and supported beyond them?