Project Coordinator, Governance – Central Square Foundation (CSF)

Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation (CSF) is a non-profit philanthropic foundation working on the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. We are driven by our mission to transform the school education system with a focus on improving the learning outcomes of children, especially from low-income communities. We believe that ensuring Universal, Early, Conceptual and Procedural Mastery of Foundational Skills is absolutely essential for the overall success of the education system. In order to achieve this, we partner with individuals and social impact organizations to bring innovative solutions in education, as well as work with the government to drive systemic impact.

We collaborate with the ecosystem to leverage knowledge, build evidence and create proven tools around critical issues such as early learning, EdTech, classroom instruction methods and governance. We also support exceptional social entrepreneurs with powerful ideas, undertake application-oriented research, provide a platform for sharing of innovation, and collaborate with other stakeholders in the ecosystem to find policy solutions – all towards enabling sustained change in India’s educational system. CSF’s team members bring a deep sense of commitment and passion towards our collective vision that every child deserves a quality education.

We strive for excellence in everything we do and collaborate to create an impact as we move closer to achieving our mission. We encourage an entrepreneurial outlook that evokes new and bold ideas along with taking smart risks. CSF provides a dynamic, learning and positive environment that is driven by our strong sense of values.

Position Summary: Private schools form an important part of the Indian education landscape – approximately a third of all children study in private unaided schools, and over 16 states have more than 50% of students enrolled in private schools. The majority of these are ‘budget or affordable private schools’, charging anywhere between ₹150-1,500 per child, per month.

However, student achievement in these schools leaves much to be desired as the learning outcomes of students in private schools are only marginally better than those enrolled in government schools. We are working to address key challenges in this heterogeneous sector through system-based levers and piloting evidence-based solutions.

Our work includes promoting the use of learning data to shape parent demand, changing the narrative around private schools to a constructive one, and building knowledge and awareness around pragmatic regulations focusing on learning outcomes improvement for private schools.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has identified the current regulatory architecture governing the private school education sector as one of the challenges and recommends greater focus on learning outcomes. The policy also identifies ‘conflict of interest’, as the same government body is usually the regulator as well as a service provider.

To address this challenge, the policy recommends the roles of regulation, policy making and service delivery to be separated with specialised bodies. One of the major recommendations under the broader idea of separation of roles is the constitution of an independent regulatory body, ‘State School Standards Authority’. Central Square Foundation is working with the Government of Assam to provide technical, knowledge, and secretariat support in implementation of all the recommendations of the National Education Policy and specifically support the change in the regulatory architecture.

This role directly reports to the Senior Consultant, Private Governance Team.

 Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Take ownership of specific NEP implementation work streams and manage them end-to-end

• Support the State Government and members of the Education Department to design, implement, monitor, and track the initiatives planned under the roadmap for NEP implementation

• Prepare strategic roadmaps and implementation plans with goals and milestones for the changes in regulatory architect of school education

• Set up project management processes and guidelines and ensure that all activities of NEP implementation are driving towards the defined goals

• Create internal alignment between different interventions and partners

• Coordinate with external stakeholders (NGOs, experts, other States)

• Facilitate conversations, setup and manage partnerships to leverage the best support for the State government

• Work closely with the senior bureaucrats at the State level and members of the Education Department The Project Coordinator will be assisted by CSF’s issue teams, other partners in our network, and national/ international experts and advisors.

Required Qualifications,

Skills and Abilities:

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s degree desirable but not mandatory with 2-5 years of work experience in school education policy, research, and implementation producing high-quality collaterals, superb project delivery and team leadership

• Excellent writing and presentation skills

• Ability to work with Government officials in policy reform projects

• Excellent skills of synthesizing research and regulations on relevant topics

• Ability to build and maintain positive and collaborative relationships both within and outside the organization

• Ability to work independently and proactively, without support staff and with minimal supervision

• Conduct and lead workshop, roundtable, and trainings

• Knowledge of Assamese language will be an additional advantage

• Willingness to travel

Desired Qualities:

• Entrepreneurial spirit and a strong ‘bias to action’ attitude

• An operating style suited to working in a small-organization setting, where ownership, teamwork and resourcefulness are highly valued

• Ability to work independently and proactively, with little supervision

• Ability to build and maintain positive and collaborative relationships both within and outside the organization

• Strong planning and organizational skills, and an ability to be able to set priorities, plan timelines and meet deadlines

Compensation: Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience levels.

To Apply : Interested candidates can click on the Application Form and fill the required details in the form