School Education Program
Strengthening government schools through experiential STEM learning, teacher capacity, technology-enabled self-learning and community participation — so that stronger learning systems can continue beyond the period of direct support.
Our Objective
To strengthen STEM education in government schools by improving classroom teaching and learning through experiential education, teacher capacity building, technology-enabled learning and community participation — nurturing scientific temper, critical thinking, problem-solving and sustained interest in STEM among students from rural and underserved communities.
Strengthening schools from within
Started in 2006, SVYM's School Education Program works within the government-school ecosystem to strengthen learning environments rather than create a parallel system. The programme combines experiential STEM education, teacher development, technology-enabled learning, student leadership and community participation.
Read more about the School Education Program
SEP is built on the idea that sustainable improvement in public education comes when schools themselves gain the confidence, resources, practices and local ownership needed to continue good learning processes. SVYM therefore works alongside students, teachers, School Development and Monitoring Committees, parents, education officials and partners — strengthening the ecosystem around the child.
Strengthen the school. Build teacher and student ownership. Engage the community. Enable the learning system to sustain itself — and move direct support to the next place where it is needed.
From supplementary learning to stronger school ecosystems
SVYM's government-school engagement has evolved with the needs of students and schools. Earlier interventions included learning aids, technology, health and hygiene awareness and supplementary classroom support. Over time, the programme has increasingly focused on experiential STEM learning, teacher mentoring, student-driven learning, career awareness, vocational exposure and community participation.
What SEP seeks to build
Equitable learning: stronger opportunities for children whose access is shaped by geography, infrastructure and socio-economic circumstance.
Scientific temper: science moves beyond the textbook through experiments, inquiry, observation and problem-solving.
Self-directed learning: technology and peer learning help students become active participants rather than passive recipients.
Community participation: parents, SDMCs and local stakeholders make learning a shared responsibility.
What makes SEP distinctive
- Works inside the government-school ecosystem rather than building a parallel education structure.
- Combines hands-on STEM learning with technology-enabled and self-directed learning.
- Builds teacher capability so teachers progressively take ownership of STEM practices.
- Uses Mobile STEM Labs and low-cost learning resources where laboratory infrastructure is limited.
- Includes mentoring, counselling and home visits to address attendance, dropout risk and learning gaps.
- Engages parents and School Development and Monitoring Committees as partners in learning.
- Integrates vocational exposure, life skills and future skills with school education.
- Connects talent discovery with mentoring, scholarships and higher education through SVYM's wider education ecosystem.
2025–26 at a glance
Current-year indicators show the breadth of SEP's engagement with government-school students, teachers, families and learning systems.
A changing footprint — because direct support is not meant to be permanent
The number of schools under direct engagement changes as new geographies are added and mature schools transition toward greater local ownership. The figures therefore describe programme movement, not a cumulative reach curve.
How to read this: these are active schools reported in each year, not cumulative schools reached. A lower annual count can reflect transition, handover and concentration of direct support in newer or higher-need locations.
Teacher participation in STEM activities increased between 2022–23 and 2025–26.
School Parliament members and students increasingly led learning spaces themselves.
From teaching a session to strengthening a system
SEP works across the learning ecosystem so that students gain opportunity while the school gains capability.
Scientific Temper
Inquiry, experiments and problem-solving help students see science as a way of understanding the world.
School Ownership
Teachers and students are progressively enabled to sustain learning practices within the school.
Community Participation
Parents and SDMCs participate so children's learning becomes a shared responsibility.
Hands-on Science
Experiments and low-cost learning aids make concepts visible, tangible and easier to explore.
Mobile STEM Labs
Equipment and facilitators travel to schools where laboratory infrastructure is limited.
Technology-enabled Learning
Tablets, digital content and self-learning resources help students explore at their own pace.
Teacher Mentoring
Teachers are supported to integrate experiential STEM practices into regular classroom learning.
Attendance & Retention
Home visits, counselling and academic mentoring support students facing dropout risk and learning gaps.
Future Skills
Vocational exposure, life skills, career guidance and competitions connect learning with future choices.
From support to ownership: SEP's strongest long-term result is not that an external facilitator remains indefinitely. It is that teachers, students and school stakeholders increasingly continue useful practices themselves.
Looking beyond activity counts
The 2025–26 programme combined large-scale learning activity with targeted support for attendance, mentoring, girls' continuation in education and measurable improvement in learning outcomes.
Students received targeted support
Home visits, mentoring and counselling addressed dropout risk, irregular attendance, behavioural challenges and learning gaps.
Students in vacation camps
Ninety vacation camps created additional opportunities for STEM-based experiential learning.
Girls continuing after SSLC
Continuation increased from 78.3% in 2022–23 to 93.9% in 2024–25 in the reported programme cohort.
Girls choosing PUC Science
Reported enrolment in PUC Science rose from 10.6% in 2020–21 to 25.4% in 2024–25.
Learning gains across grade bands
EVS +22.3%
Learning assessments also reported a 21.9% improvement in Mathematics.
Science +24%
Mathematics learning assessments improved by 25.3%.
Science +8.3%
Mathematics learning assessments improved by 11%.
Education beyond the textbook
Contextually relevant education also means giving students opportunities to understand skills, work, technology and problem-solving beyond conventional classroom boundaries.
In 2025–26, SEP facilitated 2,516 vocational skilling sessions across Electrical, Electronics, Plumbing, Carpentry, Agriculture and ICT.
The state-level Kaushalya workshop brought together more than 120 high-school students, 10+ partner organisations and industry experts for immersive exposure across eight vocational and life-skill areas.
Competitions, mentors and aspirations
761 students and 192 stakeholders participated in district- and state-level STEM competitions. 65 Qualcomm employee volunteers contributed mentorship, career guidance and STEM exposure.
Programme support also enabled 208 students to register for the National Standard Examination in Junior Science; two girls from a government school in Kolar ranked among the top 1% of candidates.
One search, many diamonds
Anveshane is SVYM's statewide search for young minds with the potential to grow in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
In 2025, more than 14,000 students from across Karnataka participated. 129 promising learners from 21 districts reached the State Camp, where science came alive through experiments, coding, robotics, problem-solving and interaction with scientists, educators and innovators.
The camp is not treated as an endpoint. Anveshane connects promising learners to the wider SVYM education continuum — mentoring, scholarship pathways, pre-university education, higher education and opportunities to return as volunteers and mentors.
Selected from 14,000+ participants across Karnataka and representing 21 districts.
Interactions included eminent scientists such as Dr A. S. Kiran Kumar, former Chairman of ISRO.
2023–24
Students registered from all 31 districts of Karnataka through online and offline participation.
2024–25
Applicants entered the statewide talent-search process before successive qualifying stages.
2025–26
Students participated; 129 promising learners from 21 districts reached the State Camp.
How to read this trend: participation changes with each year's format, outreach and selection process. Anveshane's value lies in repeatedly creating a statewide pathway for identifying and nurturing potential — not in producing a larger headline number every year.
From a government-school classroom to wider possibilities
SEP is one part of SVYM's wider education ecosystem. A student may first encounter hands-on science in a government school, participate in Anveshane, receive mentoring or scholarship support, continue into pre-university or higher education and eventually return as a volunteer or mentor.
This continuum matters because the objective is not simply to deliver more sessions. It is to expand capabilities, choices and relationships over time — building the human and social capital that helps young people shape their own futures and contribute to society.
From discovering talent to nurturing it
SVYM's wider education work now includes Nurseries of Talent, which provides specialised science and mathematics learning for talented and gifted students in government schools through digital classrooms, mini laboratories and self-directed learning.
In 2025–26, the programme reached 11,478 students across 28 government schools in Karnataka and expanded beyond the state through partnership arrangements in Tamil Nadu.
Discover → Nurture → Progress → Give back
Talent identification becomes more meaningful when learners have access to continuing mentorship, quality institutions, scholarships, higher education and networks that remain with them beyond a single intervention.
Public education grows stronger when many stakeholders participate
SEP works through collaboration with the Department of School Education, school leadership, teachers, parents, SDMCs, corporate partners, volunteers, scientists, educators and community members.
Partnership is not only about bringing additional resources into a school. It is about building learning practices, teacher capability, student ownership and community participation that remain useful beyond the period of direct project support.
Bring knowledge, time and networks into the learning ecosystem
Scientists, educators, professionals, alumni and volunteers can contribute through mentoring, exposure sessions, competitions, learning resources and institutional partnerships.
Help make curiosity, capability and opportunity part of every classroom
Support government-school students, teachers and communities with experiential STEM learning, technology-enabled education, mentoring, talent discovery and stronger learning ecosystems.