Social Innovations to address the Grand Challenge of School Education in India

This book brings together integrated knowledge on how social innovations can effectively address the societal grand challenge of providing quality school education to marginalized communities in India. The volume explores innovative prosocial models that target marginalized groups, tackling complex issues of gender, caste, class, location, and religious marginalization. Real-world case studies of social innovation are curated, showcasing novel solutions to persistent educational inequalities. These models offer more effective, efficient, sustainable, and just approaches than traditional methods, aiming for long-term social change by transforming educational organizations, practices, and systems. This book sheds light on the roles of diverse stakeholders – corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, grassroots community efforts, government schemes, and NGOs – in promoting inclusive education. A critical focus is placed on the dual role of elites in driving both the privatization of education and social innovations, with acknowledgement of how these efforts can sometimes inadvertently undermine public education systems. By examining prosocial organizing and cross-sector collaborations, this volume reveals how innovative school models provide opportunities for girls, religious minorities, marginalized castes, and differently-abled children to thrive. As such, this book offers valuable lessons for policymakers, educators, researchers, and practitioners seeking to enhance inclusion and improve learning outcomes in government and private education systems, contributing to broader social sustainability and equity goals. Chapter “Building Bridges: Sharing Cultural Capital to Address the Grand Challenge in School Education” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.