Our Asha Boston team recently advanced to being finalists in Harvard’s Seed for Change Grant competition for our project proposal “Kiln-to-Classroom: A Data-Driven Satellite Education Network”. From the competition’s website:

The Seed for Change (SFC) student competition provides monetary prizes to bold, creative ideas that have the potential for widespread impact in India. The SFC competition aims to develop a vibrant ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship by supporting interdisciplinary student projects that could positively impact social, economic, and environmental issues in India.

Read our grant proposal here!

Kiln-to-Classroom: A Data-Driven Satellite Education Network

A Partnership between Harvard University Graduate Researchers and Asha for Education

I. Executive Summary

In the marginalized corridors between Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, a systemic cycle of displacement traps thousands of children in educational limbo. Between November and June, families migrate to Varanasi’s brick kilns, causing a “total fracture” of the developmental process. Research indicates that children in circular migrant families are significantly more likely to drop out of school and face nutritional deficits compared to their settled peers (UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report, 2019). When families move, children drop out, and learning is reset to zero.

To address this, we propose “Persistent Satellite Education Hubs”—a network of fixed learning centers located on-site at the kilns. Unlike static government schools, this system is designed for mobility. It features a “Digital Passport” to track academic progress across state lines and a “Sibling Support Model” to ensure gender-inclusive enrollment.

We seek funding from the Seed for Change grant for a 12-month pilot to standardize 11 existing informal centers into a professional network and launch a “Twin-Center” partnership with a source village in Nalanda, Bihar. This pilot will test the hypothesis that data portability can reduce learning loss during migration. The project is a joint initiative led by Melli Annamalai (Strategy/Governance), Shivam Gandhi (Harvard PhD Candidate, Data/Research), Amit Rajbhar (Field Operations), and Akshay Bhole (Asha Boston lead, Operations), combining grassroots legitimacy with rigorous impact evaluation.

II. Statement of Need: The Invisible Crisis of the Brick Kilns

The Cycle of Displacement
The brick kiln industry operates on a model of “circular migration.” Labor contractors rotate families to different kiln sites annually to prevent workers from establishing residency rights (ILO, 2017). Consequently, a child will often not return to the same location twice. Furthermore, many children do not enroll in school in their home village since the parents know they will be moving soon for work. This lack of geographic consistency leads to a total collapse of educational continuity.

The “Invisible” Population
Our target demographic consists of the Musahar and Majhi communities (Dalit/Mahadalit), who face some of the lowest literacy rates in India, often below 10% for women, and systemic discrimination (ActionAid, 2016). While Asha for Education currently identifies students across 11 specific kiln clusters in Varanasi (including Harsh, Vijay, Sagar, and Rudra Brick Fields) (Asha Kaithi Report, 2025), thousands remain unreached.

Barriers to Access
The crisis is compounded by the clandestine nature of the industry. Brick kilns are often run by companies that rely on child labor and are deeply reluctant to allow NGOs on their land for fear of legal scrutiny. Furthermore, the “piece-rate” wage system creates a perverse incentive:

1. Forced Labor: Because parents are paid by the brick (~₹550 per 1,000), children are pressed into turning bricks to supplement family income (Anti-Slavery International, 2017).
2. Gender-Based Exclusion: Young girls are disproportionately kept out of classrooms to manage housework and care for younger siblings while parents work (Vikram et al, Social Science Research, 2024).
3. The Poverty Trap: Extreme deprivation results in severe health barriers. Many children bathe only once a week due to water scarcity, leading to high rates of skin infections and stunting (PMC, 2022).

The Failure of Status Quo: Without targeted intervention that accommodates their transient lifestyle, these children remain a permanent underclass, excluded from the promise of India’s formal education system.

III. The Programmatic Vision: A Network of Continuity

Our proposed solution moves away from the traditional, static school model in favor of Persistent Satellite Education Hubs.

Component A: Permanent Infrastructure in a Transitional Landscape
Building on the fieldwork of Amit Rajbhar, we will develop permanent school setups at the periphery of kiln clusters. These hubs serve as physical anchors. By positioning them as “Community Centers” that provide nutritional support, winter clothing, and hygiene interventions (leveraging Asha’s existing “Pad Bank” program), we gain entry into communities that might otherwise be wary of external scrutiny (Asha Kaithi Report, 2025).

Component B: A Seamless Satellite Network
Instead of isolated schools, we are building an interconnected ecosystem. When a family is moved by a contractor to a different kiln, the child does not “drop out”—they transition to another node in the network.

• The Bridge Curriculum: We will utilize a standardized curriculum focused on literacy and numeracy, designed to be compatible with government standards in Hindi-speaking states (UP and Bihar). Remedial “bridge courses” have been rigorously proven to improve learning outcomes for out-of-school children (Banerjee et al., J-PAL, 2007).
• Civic Awareness: We supplement this with Asha’s “Samvidhan” (Constitution) Awareness modules to teach rights and duties, empowering these marginalized communities to advocate for themselves (Asha Kaithi Report, 2025).

Component C: The Sibling Support Model
To address gender disparity, our hubs utilize an inclusive enrollment strategy. We explicitly allow students to bring younger siblings into the classroom. This removes the primary obstacle for girls—the burden of domestic childcare—transforming the school from a place of exclusion to a comprehensive family support center. We potentially will hire childcare workers through the honorarium system if needed. 

IV. Technical Innovation: Data-Driven Stability

The backbone of this proposal is a sophisticated data-tracking infrastructure designed by the Harvard team.

1. Portable Student Profiles (The “Digital Passport”)
   We will implement a centralized cloud database (using ODK Collect and Google Sheets) to host a “digital passport” for every student. This includes academic progress, attendance, and health records (BMI/Vaccination) that follow the child instantly from one hub to the next.
2. Predictive Migration Mapping
   By leveraging historical migration data and contractor patterns, we will develop predictive models to anticipate enrollment surges. This allows for the proactive allocation of teachers and resources (textbooks, mats) to specific kiln sites before the migration season begins in November.
3. The Government Bridge
   These hubs are designed as a “bridge” to formalization. The “Digital Passport” provides the longitudinal documentation necessary for state recognition, allowing us to eventually integrate these children into the formal government school system.

V. Implementation Plan & Strategic Goals

Phase I: Origin-Destination Mapping (Months 1–2)

• The Census: We will conduct a census of the ~283 children currently in the 11 Varanasi centers. Crucially, we will also survey non-enrolled children in adjacent kilns to understand the population hidden by restrictive kiln owners.
• The Twin-Center: We have identified Nalanda, Bihar, as a primary “Source Hub” where many migrants return. Leveraging existing Asha contacts in this region, we will establish a formal partnership to receive returning students.

Phase II: Standardization (Months 3–4)

• Teacher Training: We will conduct a 3-day intensive workshop (Budget Estimate: ₹49,000) on the new “Bridge Curriculum” and digital tools (Asha Kaithi Budget, 2025).
• Language Strategy: To minimize friction, we are specifically targeting migration corridors within the Hindi-speaking belt, ensuring the curriculum remains relevant across state lines.
• Tech Deployment: Centers will be equipped with low-cost computers/tablets for data entry (Asha Rajatalab Budget, 2025).

Phase III: The Pilot (Months 5–16)

• Execution: Deploy the “Sibling Support” and “Digital Passport” protocols across the 11 kiln sites.
• The Handoff: As the work cycle ends (June), we will track the specific destination of each family.
• Re-Enrollment Tracking: We will assess how many migrant children successfully enroll in the Nalanda partner school using our transferred data, measuring the reduction in “administrative drop-out.”

Strategic Goals:

• Short-Term: Immediate cessation of child labor in targeted clusters; replacement of work hours with classroom hours.
• Mid-Term: 100% data portability for the pilot cohort; zero loss of academic credit upon migration.
• Long-Term: Establishing a scalable and portable model for state governments to implement for tracking the education and health of migrant children.

VI. Team & Organizational Capacity

Project Co-Lead: Melli Annamalai (Strategy & Governance) As Former President of Asha for Education, Melli brings decades of experience in navigating India’s non-profit landscape and scaling grassroots initiatives into national programs.

Project Co-Lead: Shivam Gandhi (Harvard PhD Candidate) Shivam combines technical expertise in data-driven decision making (Computational Biology) with direct field experience, having conducted site visits to the Varanasi kilns to assess operational realities. He leads the Data Architecture and Impact Evaluation.

Field Lead: Amit Rajbhar (Founder, Bal Vikas Kendra) With 19 years of experience supervising 11 centers, Amit is the operational anchor. His deep ties with the Musahar population allow us to bypass the “trust barrier” with kiln owners that hinders the success of other NGOs.

Operations Lead: Akshay Bhole (Asha Boston Coordinator) Akshay manages cross-border coordination between Harvard and Varanasi, ensuring strict financial compliance (FCRA) and budget adherence. He has deep experience in managing budgets and projects with partner Asha projects.

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Satchit Balsari (Harvard Mittal Institute) Dr. Balsari acts as the primary advisor on Impact Evaluation, specifically regarding health and migration data protocols.

VII. Feasibility & Sustainability

Operational Feasibility
The project is “shovel-ready,” building on an active network of 11 centers already running in Varanasi. We utilize local honorarium rates (₹4,500/month for teachers), ensuring the model is low-cost (~$600/year per center) and highly scalable (Asha Kaithi Budget, 2025).

Sustainability Infrastructure is low-maintenance (mats, portable blackboards) with recurrent costs for stationery capped at ₹9,000/center. Strong community integration via Bal Vikas Kendra ensures long-term stewardship beyond the grant cycle. Please refer to our budget for full details.

The Partnership Model: Operational Scale Meets Research Rigor

This proposal represents a unique symbiosis between grassroots capacity and academic rigor.

• Asha for Education (The Operational Backbone): Asha de-risks the implementation by providing the physical infrastructure, hiring staff, and managing community trust. They are the “Body” of the project, ensuring day-to-day stability and cost-effective execution.
• Harvard University Team (The Strategic Architects): The Seed for Change grant introduces a layer of technical innovation that Asha cannot support alone. The Harvard team acts as the “Brain,” responsible for:
  • System Design: Designing the “Digital Passport” schema and privacy protocols.
  • Curriculum Standardization: Creating the frameworks that allow for cross-state interoperability.
  • Policy Pitch: Analyzing the pilot data to prove “Learning Loss Reduction” and packaging the results into a policy kit for the UP/Bihar State Governments.

By combining Asha’s ability to reach the invisible child with Harvard’s ability to track and measure their progress, we can create a replicable solution for one of India’s most intractable educational crises.

References

• ActionAid India. (2016). Labour Migration and Trafficking in the Brick Kilns of India.
• Anti-Slavery International. (2017). Slavery in India’s Brick Kilns: Payment Systems, Bonded Labour and Child Labour.
• Asha for Education. (2025). Asha Educational and Social Project at Kaithi, Varanasi Fy 2025-2026. [Internal Report].
• Asha for Education. (2025). Budget Approved for 2025-26 for Asha Rajatalab Library. [Internal Budget].
• Abhijit V. Banerjee, Shawn Cole, Esther Duflo, Leigh Linden, Remedying Education: Evidence from Two Randomized Experiments in India, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 122, Issue 3, August 2007, Pages 1235–1264, https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.122.3.1235. 
• International Labour Organization (ILO). (2017). Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage.
• Roshania RP, Giri R, Cunningham SA, Young MF, Webb-Girard A, Das A, Mala GS, Srikantiah S, Mahapatra T, Ramakrishnan U. Early life migration and undernutrition among circular migrant children: An observational study in the brick kilns of Bihar, India. J Glob Health. 2022 Feb 5;12:04008. doi: 10.7189/jogh.12.04008. PMID: 35136599; PMCID: PMC8818295.
• UNESCO. (2019). Global Education Monitoring Report 2019: Migration, displacement and education.
• Kriti Vikram, Dibyasree Ganguly, Srinivas Goli, Time use patterns and household adversities: A lens to understand the construction of gender privilege among children and adolescents in India, Social Science Research, Volume 118, 2024, 102970, ISSN 0049-089X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2023.102970 .