Program to Improve Private Early Education (PIPE): a case study of a systems approach for scaling quality early education solutions.

FSG is a mission-driven nonprofit organization supporting leaders in creating large-scale, lasting social change. A survey conducted by FSG in 2015 across 4407 low-income families in urban India showed that 95% of them send their children to preschools, a majority of choosing affordable private preschools (APSs), as parents perceive the quality of government schools to be poor. Parents use and value rote-based methods (e.g., reciting poems) to assess their children's learning in school; however, these methods fail to measure conceptual understanding. The APS system delivers on these rote approaches using inappropriate pedagogy, leading to poor learning outcomes. Affordable high-quality activity-based preschool solutions exist and could be brought to the APS to significantly improve the classroom environment and learning outcomes. This requires changing mindsets of all actors-solution provider companies, APS owners, APS teachers, and low-income parents. We present FSG's approach to shaping demand for quality preschool services and to improve learning outcomes in urban Indian APSs through the implementation of the pilot Program to Improve Private Early Education (PIPE).