Maharashtra - India
Jolly Phonics was first piloted in 2017 in Akola districtProject Start Date
2022Implementing Partner
Neeti NagarkarGovernment Partners
Zilla Parishad, Akola District and Gadchiroli District
Jolly Phonics was piloted from 2017 to 2018 in 7 Zilla Parishad schools in Akola District. The pilot yielded positive outcomes, which led to city-wide implementation from 2018 to 2019 seeing Jolly Phonics extended to all 33 schools in Akola City. This initiative was supported by the Municipal Commissioner. Following this, a district rollout was approved by the CEO of Zilla Parishad Akola for 2020-2021, but was delayed due to the Covid 19 pandemic. In July 2022 the project was resumed and a team of 10 trainers delivered training to 1,249 standard 1 teachers. The training resources were provided for free by Jolly Learning Ltd, and teachers responded positively to the training. A significant improvement was observed in students’ reading and spelling skills in English since the implementation.
The Jolly Phonics project was first recommended to the CEO of Gadchiroli District, Mr Kumar Aashirwad, by the CEO of Akola District. Ms Neeti Nagarkar was then invited to give a presentation on Jolly Phonics, which was followed by a meeting during which a district-wide rollout was approved. Based on the success in Akola, it was agreed another pilot was not needed.
A team of 10 trainers, led by Ms Nagarkar successfully delivered training to 2,889 teachers, battling Gadchiroli’s challenging terrain which has 70% forest coverage. Dedicated trainers travelled 2 hours daily from their hotel to the training venues.
Implementation of Jolly Phonics in schools followed shortly after training, with students responding positively to the systematic synthetic phonics approach to reading and writing in English. The new CEO of Block Officers ensured that the teachers received on-going support and monitoring.
Ms. Ayushi Singh, the new CEO has taken a keen interest in the project, visiting schools to understand the methodology and observe children's progress. The promising early results and ongoing administrative support suggest a sustainable and impactful future for the programme in the district. The district plans to proceed with the sustainability phase starting July 2024.
Jolly Phonics has been rolled out in Akola and Gadchiroli districts
Project Media
Project Reports
Gadchiroli - Report by ZP.pdf
ZP govt assessment Report.pdf
Project Contact
Neeti Nagarkar
Jolly Phonics Professional TrainerProjects: Sikkim
Project Partners
