From Classrooms to Systems: Scaling Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India with Vinod Karate

Vinod Karate is Project Director for State Reform at the Central Square Foundation where he helps drive India’s landmark NIPUN Bharat Mission to ensure every child can read, write, and count by age ten. From an early career in investment banking to shaping one of the world’s largest foundational learning reforms, Vinod’s journey bridges sharp strategy with deep community engagement. 

In this episode, Vinod shares how India is rethinking the very foundations of schooling and how CSF partners with states to design and scale reforms that align with India’s NIPUN Bharat goals. He unpacks CSF’s three-phase approach to state reform: strengthening teacher capacity, redesigning governance around learning outcomes, and building political and administrative coalitions, which helps make large-scale change possible.  

Drawing on his experience in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Haryana, Vinod illustrates how reform really takes root on the ground. He explains how structured pedagogy, sustained teacher mentoring, and real-time data and assessment can translate policy into daily classroom practice, and how seizing windows of political alignment, unlocking budgets, and shifting decision-making from state capitals to districts ensures that change is owned and sustained at the local level. 

Grounded in evidence, this episode offers a clear, actionable roadmap for strengthening foundational learning and creating education systems that sustain reform and deliver lasting results for every child.