India is home to over 250 million children in government and low-income private schools, many of whom face poverty and systemic educational neglect. These schools often focus solely on academics, neglecting social-emotional and creative development—despite growing evidence that arts and SEL (social-emotional learning) are critical to fostering well-being, creativity, and lifelong skills. India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 mandates integrating arts and SEL into schools, but implementation remains weak, especially in rural and marginalized communities. Contributing factors include a lack of trained teachers, contextualized curricula, and limited resource allocation. Teachers are often expected to conduct art or SEL sessions without adequate training or tools, reducing the quality and consistency of these learning experiences. Existing solutions work in silos, lacking the coordination, support, and scale needed for systemic change. As a result, millions of children are left without the emotional and creative tools essential for academic success and future readiness. Globally, this gap reflects a broader trend: the World Economic Forum warns that current education systems will leave students unprepared for future workforce demands centered on critical thinking and creativity. Addressing this crisis requires an urgent, scalable solution that supports educators without overburdening the existing system.
We serve children from government and low-income private schools in India, many of whom live in urban slums or rural areas with no access to quality education. These children are often first-generation learners from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and they are significantly underserved in terms of holistic development. Their schools typically lack creative education programs, which are critical for building essential life skills like communication, collaboration, and perseverance. Our solution bridges this gap by delivering a comprehensive visual arts and SEL program tailored to their developmental needs. We work within existing school systems, partnering with government bodies, nonprofits, and educators to implement our programs seamlessly into school routines. This ensures that children gain consistent access to creative and emotional learning opportunities in safe, supportive environments. We train teachers - often without prior art education experience - to facilitate these classes and provide real-time support using our WhatsApp-based chatbot. This enables educators to deliver engaging sessions that foster expression, confidence, and skill-building. We are also pioneering research efforts in the country bridging the policy to practice gaps through evidence. Our research studies on the impact of visual arts and SEL education on children's development, contributing valuable insights to the education ecosystem in India, contributing towards systemic change.
Since 2017, our impact has been growing steadily, impacting almost 200K+ children across 14 states in India. Accomplishments of recent years include establishing state government partnerships in Maharashtra and Nagaland, digitizing our curriculum in collaboration with Pratham International, building first international partnership with Faces of Uganda, reaching Africa and launching of Symposium and e-magazines to unify voices in the art education sector. In line with the expansion of our program scale, we have doubled both our team size and budget. Looking ahead to 2030, we aim to create safe, joyful and creative spaces for over 5 million children in India. Our strategy involves scaling our teacher-training program through state government partnerships, collaborating with large-scale and grassroots nonprofits to reach marginalized communities, and leveraging technology to enhance educator engagement across diverse geographical locations.
Connect with us, educators & senior leaders in education institutions, to partner for our teacher-training program. Collaborate with us for workshops focusing on fostering well-being through visual arts & enhancing collaboration amongst your team. Contribute to our e-magazine, Art Speaks, & join us in fostering creativity & expression. Contact us at info@saturdayartclass.com to get involved!
