Every School
Transformation Story
Begins with a Leader.
Watch Story
Vision
Enabling enriching learning experiences for all children in India
Why Leadership Matters in Education
Data shows that great leadership is
non-negotiable for transforming schools.
Poor management capacity and lack of autonomy among school leadership lead to poor education outcomes (World Bank’s World Development Report 2018)
Why Leadership Matters in Education
Data shows that great leadership is
non-negotiable for transforming schools.
Poor management capacity and lack of autonomy among school leadership lead to poor education outcomes (World Bank’s World Development Report 2018)
An effective school leader can add approximately 3 months of learning in a year. Students learn substantially more in both reading and math in schools with more effective principals. (How Principals Affect Students and Schools, Wallace Foundation Report, 2021)
An effective school leader can add approximately 3 months of learning in a year. Students learn substantially more in both reading and math in schools with more effective principals. (How Principals Affect Students and Schools, Wallace Foundation Report, 2021)
“There are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.” School leaders are second only to teachers for transforming student outcomes. (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2024-25)
“There are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.” School leaders are second only to teachers for transforming student outcomes. (Global Education Monitoring Report, 2024-25)
For every child to realise their right to quality education, our public schools must improve. And for schools to improve, education leaders must lead the way, owning and driving the process of transformation. Empowered education leaders can create safe, inclusive learning environments and effectively shape policies, programs, and everyday practices that directly influence student learning.
Yet, their capacity development is often overlooked in the system. Without tools, mentorship, and enabling ecosystems, education leaders remain unsupported and systemic, sustainable change remains out of reach
For every child to realise their right to quality education, our public schools must improve. And for schools to improve, education leaders must lead the way, owning and driving the process of transformation. Empowered education leaders can create safe, inclusive learning environments and effectively shape policies, programs, and everyday practices that directly influence student learning.
Yet, their capacity development is often overlooked in the system. Without tools, mentorship, and enabling ecosystems, education leaders remain unsupported and systemic, sustainable change remains out of reach
The Mission
Enable and amplify K-12 Education System Leadership in India.
ShikshaLokam
Empowering Leaders, Transforming Systems
In 2017, ShikshaLokam was founded under the aegis of Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives (SFPI), aligned to its patrons’- Mr SD Shibulal & Mrs Kumari Shibulal’s vision of building an equitable society through education. ShikshaLokam exists to enable public education systems to lead change from within- by developing capable, courageous leaders at every level.
Kumari Shibulal
Founder & Chairperson, SFPI
Through the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiatives, we started ShikshaLokam with a simple yet powerful belief that empowering education leaders is the most sustainable way to transform public schools. When we invest in the growth of these leaders, we invest in the future of every child. By enabling, supporting, and connecting them, ShikshaLokam is building the capacity and confidence needed to create lasting change in education systems across the country.
Leadership = Ability to Drive Continuous Micro-improvements
Leadership Isn’t About Titles – It’s About the Act of Improvement.
Be it teachers, school leaders, parents, youth, women or any other community members, anyone owning the responsibility to drive micro-improvement in the education ecosystem is a LEADER.
The micro-improvement approach encourages leaders to own their improvement journeys with consistent changes that provide students with the opportunity to learn, grow, thrive and eventually become global citizens. In a country as diverse and complex as India, this approach is critical to delivering education equity at scale.
Learn
Improve
Sense
Make Sense
By enabling this cycle at scale, we create a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem where every leader has the agency to drive education equity.
Imagine if every 4.5 million education leaders undertook one micro-improvement a month, our education system would see 54 million improvements every year.
0+
0+
0+
0+
Driving Exponential Change
We leverage the societal thinking approach to enable education leadership and drive change across the Indian education system with speed, at scale, and sustainability.
Network
Spotlighting and celebrating education leaders with InvokED – a global dialogue on leadership and Shikshagraha Awards, honouring exceptional leaders in education.
Environment
Co-creating education leadership missions and initiatives with the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
Building Shikshagraha, which aims to bring the government, the CSO, and the community together for school improvements.
Infrastructure
Building open-source digital capabilities through ELEVATE and enabling leaders to observe, mentor, analyse, and improve.
Societal Thinking Model
Amplification
Network
Spotlighting and celebrating education leaders with InvokED – a global dialogue on leadership and Shikshagraha Awards, honouring exceptional leaders in education.
Co-creation
Environment
Co-creating education leadership missions and initiatives with the Ministry of Education, Government of India. Building Shikshagraha, which aims to bring the government, the CSO, and the community together for school improvements.
Shared
Infrastructure
Building open-source digital capabilities through ELEVATE and enabling leaders to observe, mentor, analyse, and improve.
Societal Thinking Model
Co-building Shikshagraha
A People’s Movement for Education Equity
Shikshagraha is a people’s movement to improve India’s 1 million public schools by unlocking leadership across levels. The government, CSOs, markets, and media need to come together urgently, undertake micro-improvements, and learn from each other. Only then will we be able to improve public schools and prepare all our children for the future of work and the planet.
Shikshagraha supports system leaders (headmasters, district, block and cluster level officials) and community leaders (women, parents, youth) to design and lead local improvements that solve contextual challenges in public schools. These tailored micro-improvements increase the speed, scale and scope of education change in the underserved region.
Co-building Shikshagraha
A People’s Movement for Education Equity
Shikshagraha is a people’s movement to improve India’s 1 million public schools by unlocking leadership across levels. The government, CSOs, markets, and media need to come together urgently, undertake micro-improvements, and learn from each other. Only then will we be able to improve public schools and prepare all our children for the future of work and the planet.
Shikshagraha supports system leaders (headmasters, district, block and cluster level officials) and community leaders (women, parents, youth) to design and lead local improvements that solve contextual challenges in public schools. These tailored micro-improvements increase the speed, scale and scope of education change in the underserved region.