XTX Markets makes significant donation to Pratham to support education for children in rural India

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Jul 13, 2021, 05:00 ET

LONDON, July 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- XTX Markets has committed USD 3 million over 3 years to support Pratham's "Hamara Gaon" (Our Village) program focused on foundational learning and community engagement and to support development of tools and scalable solutions for Pratham's early years program.

Pratham's Hamara Gaon program will look to not only improve the learning levels of children but create a community driven learning environment that is sustainable in the long run. Additionally, with a more nuanced understanding of children's numeracy abilities, enhanced math activities will be introduced both in school and in communities.

Young Children (children in age group 3 to 8) are enrolled in a variety of institutions and inputs received by children vary depending on the type of institution they are enrolled in. Due to variation in inputs provided to children at different age levels, gaps in learning start to develop. The poor learning outcomes of children in later years stem from this lack of foundational skills in children in early years. Thus, it is important to track learning trajectories of children using a "School Readiness" tool and minimise gaps at an early age. Pratham will develop a continuum tool for pre-school and Grade 1 and 2 and develop links between the tool & learning strategies in pre-school and Grade 1 and 2. Pratham will also advocate use of the continuum tool and activity package at a large scale especially in its government partnership programs.

Dr. Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation, said:

"Over the years, Pratham's Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach has shown that children in Grades 3 and above can "catch up" on their foundational skills in both reading and numeracy in a short period of time. XTX's support over the next 3 years will also help Pratham to refine pedagogy, materials and overall approach to further strengthen foundational numeracy skills.

Over the years, Pratham's own experience in pre-school and early grades has brought out the importance of building strong foundations early in the child's educational journey. India's New Education Policy reinforces this approach by emphasizing the need for a clear foundational stage (age 3 to age 8) where children can acquire a breadth of skills that help in sustaining progress in later years. As India puts into place the continuum for the early years (age 3 to age 8) by redefining learning goals, and aligning them with curriculum and activity frameworks, with XTX's support over the next 3 years Pratham hopes to develop a comprehensive tool. This tool will be helpful in tracking learning trajectories of children through pre-primary years and Grade 1 and 2. Easy to use, simple to understand tools can contribute significantly towards the achievement of ambitious goals for foundational literacy and numeracy set out by NEP 2020."

Alex Gerko, Founder & co-CEO of XTX Markets, said:

"Education and social mobility are fundamental pillars of our charitable programme and XTX continues to support many educational charities across the world. With the opening of our office in Mumbai it was a natural fit to extend this support to India and we are delighted to donate to Pratham and help in its goal of supporting education for children in rural India.''

About Pratham:

Pratham is an innovative learning organization that works to improve the quality of education in India. Founded 25 years ago in Mumbai with the aim of providing preschool education to children in urban slums, Pratham has steadily grown over the years, in both scope and geographical coverage. Today Pratham is one of the largest non-profit organizations in education in India. Focusing on high-quality, low-cost, and replicable interventions, Pratham has reached millions of children and youth across 20+ states and Union Territories in both rural and urban areas of India. Pratham's interventions demonstrate how impact can be created in a short period of time without a lot of resources.

Over the years, Pratham's approach to teaching and learning has expanded to various segments and evolved both through direct work and in partnership with government systems. While direct interventions have expanded with a focus on increasing and sustaining program impact at the beneficiary and community level, partnerships have been pursued with the larger aim of creating impact not only at the beneficiary and community level, but also at the system level.

As a result of its work, Pratham has been the recipient of many national and international awards such as the Kravis Prize in Leadership (2010) and the Skoll Award (2011). In 2012, Pratham's Co-Founder Dr. Madhav Chavan was awarded the WISE Prize for Education which has been referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Education." In the same year, The Global Journal named Pratham as one of the "Top 100 NGOs" in the world. In 2014, Dr. Chavan was recognized by the Asia Society as an Asia Game Changer. In 2018, Pratham won the Lui Che Woo Prize in the Positive Energy Category.

About XTX Markets:

XTX Markets is a leading financial technology firm which partners with counterparties, exchanges and e-trading venues globally to provide liquidity in the Equity, FX, Fixed Income and Commodity markets. XTX has over 150 employees based in London, Paris, New York, Mumbai and Singapore.

XTX is the 3rd largest FX liquidity provider globally and the largest eSpot FX liquidity provider globally (Euromoney 2020) and also the largest European equities (systematic internaliser) liquidity provider in 2020 (Rosenblatt FY 2020).

In a changing world XTX Markets is at the forefront of making financial markets fairer and more efficient for all.