Paired Learning
When students sit in pairs, even the shiest one becomes an active learner. Paired learning is more enjoyable and leads to better learning outcomes.
Pedagogy
ALfA — Accelerating Learning for All
A hands-on, activity-based, child-led, paired-learning pedagogy that enables children to read, write and do basic arithmetic in as little as 45 days.
In a nutshell
Read, write and count in 45 days.
ALfA uses simple, short, highly visual modules to help children build from their existing knowledge of pictures, decoding and blending sounds from the very first day. In numeracy, children use a kinaesthetic-to-concrete-to-abstract approach to build deeper number sense.
45 days
To foundational literacy and numeracy
$4
Per child, using local resources
30+
Languages, Indian and international
Three principles
More than a set of books — a way of teaching.
Known to Unknown
ALfA flips the traditional ‘A for Apple’ on its head, moving from the known (picture) to the unknown (letter). Children read words from the first lesson, without months spent on the alphabet.
Asking Questions
Students make their own questions and ask each other, which engages them more deeply in learning and is crucial to developing 21st-century skills.
21st-century skills
The 9Cs: five skills leading to four traits.
These cannot be taught from a textbook — they are acquired while children work with each other in the classroom.
Skills
- Competencies: foundational literacy and numeracy learnt swiftly.
- Creativity and critical thinking, through making questions for each other.
- Communication and collaboration, through working in pairs.
Traits
- Citizenship and character, by working with many different children.
- Climate consciousness, through role plays and short stories.
- Connectedness, key to social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
ALfA worldwide
Classrooms, ministries and community programmes across continents.
Ministry of Education, Maldives
An MoU with the Ministry of Education, Maldives, aims to raise learning levels of children studying in all 213 government schools of the country.
Ministry of Education, Maldives
Literacy Chicago, USA
In collaboration with Literacy Chicago, the ALfA English toolkit has been converted into videos. The programme is being piloted with low-literacy adult learners from marginalised communities in Chicago, with impressive results.
Literacy Chicago
Kupanda Sisters, Guyana
A school in Guyana is taking up the 45 Days to FLN Challenge, benefitting around 200 children. The school is using ALfA e-learning materials to give students a high-quality, low-carbon education.
Arca Beta, Peru
Online teacher training was conducted for Arca Beta NGO, who are now implementing ALfA in their school in Iquitos, Peru.
PathYouth NGO, Kenya
A literacy and numeracy bootcamp in Mombasa using ALfA materials improved skills for 102 children, increased learning motivation, enhanced teacher quality and strengthened community support with volunteer teachers.
Malaysia
Teachers, principals and government officials from eight countries joined an interactive workshop on the ALfA pedagogy. In Malaysia, an ALfA pilot began in collaboration with Radiant Gems Preschool.
Philippines
In partnership with Dawnbreakers Foundation, the material was replicated in Filipino and is now used to teach in a remote area of Mindoro.
Trinidad & Tobago
A trial of ALfA is under way in partnership with El Dorado South Hindu School.
Asia
- Philippines
- Maldives
- India
- Nepal
- Malaysia
North America
- USA
Latin America
- Peru
- Guyana
- Trinidad & Tobago
Africa
- Kenya
- Ghana
- Zimbabwe
Languages
ALfA materials in 30+ languages.
Toolkits are replicated with partners so that children learn in the language of their classroom.
International languages
- Arabic
- Bangla
- Dhivehi
- Dutch
- English
- Filipino
- French
- Mandarin
- Nepali
- Persian
- Portuguese*
- Serbian
- Shona
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Twi
- Urdu
- Yoruba
- Somali*
- Norwegian
* in development
Indian languages
- Assamese
- Bengali
- Gujarati
- Hindi
- Kannada
- Konkani*
- Maithili
- Marathi
- Mizo
- Odia
- Punjabi
- Tamil
- Telugu
* in process
Implementation geographies
Where ALfA is being implemented, and what the data shows.
ALfA is proving effective in diverse contexts — from government schools to informal literacy centres, from the remote Amazon to dense urban communities.
| Geography | Scale | Results so far | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh, India | Implementation underway in 4 full districts (over 7,000 schools) | The government’s NIPUN Assessment Test showed that schools implementing ALfA were twice as likely to have 80% of students pass an FLN test. | View report |
| Himachal Pradesh, India | 1,200 schools; MoU in place for state-wide (10,000 schools) | The proportion of children scoring less than 25% on the test dropped from 13% at baseline to 3% at endline. | View report |
| Jammu, India | MoU in place for state-wide (10,000 schools) | Results awaited | View report |
| Ghana | 6 schools initially, now another 6 schools | 3–5x greater learning gains in treatment vs control schools | View report |
| Peru | 2 schools | At baseline, only 32% of children were proficient in reading, writing and arithmetic. This reached 80% after 45 days. | View report |
| Maldives | 13 schools, with plans to scale up nationally | Double learning gains in treatment vs control schools | View report |
Comparative analysis
ALfA, TaRL and Structured Pedagogy.
ALfA is a uniquely structured pedagogy which is highly cost-effective, even compared with other FLN ‘best buys’.
| Feature | ALfA | TaRL | Structured Pedagogy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core approach | Paired learning, holistic framework and scaffolded self-learning — structure with process. | Grouping students by level and focusing on core skills. | Standardised lesson plans and scripted teaching. |
| Teacher’s role | Empowers teachers with concise triggers and ongoing support. Teacher load is reduced as students help and check each other in pairs. | Teachers may carry a heavy load as they teach separate learning groups. | Requires strict adherence to scripted methods, with limited professional autonomy. |
| Holistic development | Develops 21st-century skills (8Cs) through random paired learning — communication, collaboration and citizenship. | Differentiated learning, which can create a fixed mindset about ability. | Focused primarily on academic content delivery rather than holistic development. |
| Cost | $4 per child — leverages local resources and requires minimal training time. | $20–$27 per child. Resources vary by implementation; more significant training required. | $8 per child, with detailed scripting and material requirements. |
| Speed & efficacy | Effect sizes 0.23–0.89 (India, 40 days, 2022–23). Weighted average 0.39–0.58. | Effect sizes 0.08–0.7 (India, 50 days, studies mainly 2005–2014). Weighted average 0.15–0.28. | Effect size 0.13. Generally longer-term implementations required. |
Why literacy
Can you read this sentence? If so, you are literate.
Hundreds of millions of people — especially in low- and middle-income countries — still lack the key skills of reading, writing and basic arithmetic. ALfA enables learners to become literate and numerate in months rather than years, using a known-to-unknown approach that bypasses the need to learn the alphabet first.
- Expanding job opportunities — literate people earn an estimated 40–70% more than their illiterate counterparts.
- Breaking inter-generational poverty — parents who can read and write are more likely and able to send their children to school.
- Boosting self-confidence — literacy helps people feel more able to take initiative to improve their lives.
- Improving health — in developing countries, a child born to a literate mother is 50% more likely to survive past age 5.
- Enhancing political rights — literate people can access information, make up their own mind and engage in the political process.
Government school empowerment
Working with state and district governments in India.
Government of Uttar Pradesh
After successful implementation of the ALfA Disruptive FLN Programme in the Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, the department of school education signed an MoU to implement it in 15 districts. So far the work has expanded to 180 schools across Lucknow, Unnao and Barabanki districts.
Read the full report
Shamli, Uttar Pradesh
Dignity Education has worked closely with the district administration to improve learning levels of school students — initially in 10 schools, then 200. The results attracted media attention and were discussed in a book by Prof. Reimers of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Watch literacy and numeracy skills flourish
Sambalpur, Odisha
Based on poor results in the National Achievement Survey (2017), Sambalpur was declared a low-performing district. Dignity Education has worked in 10 schools of Sambalpur since August 2022, with discussions under way to scale the programme across the district.
Read the full report
Chatra, Jharkhand
An MoU has been signed with the Department of Education, Chatra, Jharkhand, to fill post-Covid FLN gaps for government school children in grades 1–5. In the first phase, 50 government schools will be covered, followed by a district-wide scale-up.
Watch the minister’s speechAdult literacy
Women and communities learning to read and count.
Sahbhagi Shiksha Kendra
Since December 2018, Dignity Education has partnered with Sahbhagi Shiksha Kendra to enhance their adult literacy programme in Sitapur district. Fifteen young, educated women use the toolkits to spread literacy, reaching older women from communities with very low literacy rates.
Watch the storyKurauni Village
The literacy programme in Kurauni village, on the outskirts of Lucknow, is a highly scalable community-based model. In 2015, 22 women were trained and went on to teach 180 women within the first few months. Kurauni is now almost fully literate.
Watch the story
Mizoram Adult Literacy Directorate
Dignity Education is helping the Mizoram government work towards universal literacy. After replicating the ALfA toolkits into Mizo, online training was conducted for master-trainers. In the first phase, 5,000 learners are being covered across Aizawl, Mamit and Lawngtlai.
Watch the storyIIMPACT, West Bengal
Working with IIMPACT in two districts of West Bengal since August 2022. In the first phase, 1,000 women were taught key literacy skills alongside health and hygiene awareness, with a particular focus on young mothers.
Watch the story
HCL Foundation
The project develops reading, writing and financial literacy skills among illiterate women in Self-Help Groups. A one-month pilot was completed in January 2022 with 1,500 learners, leading to plans for scaling up.
Watch the storyNGO partnerships
Scaling with organisations across India.
Teach for India, Mumbai
Starting in November 2018, a partnership with Teach for India schools in Mumbai provided training and literacy toolkits in Hindi, Marathi and English. Some children took up the materials to teach their family and community members.
Magic Bus Foundation
Since August 2019, Community Learning Centres across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have used the literacy kits as part of the ‘childhood to livelihood’ programme, helping young people gain vital FLN skills.
Piramal Foundation
An MoU with Piramal Foundation aims to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy for around 50 million children across 112 aspirational districts covering 27 Indian states.
Community development
Literacy alongside health, entitlements and dignity.
TB Challenge
Tuberculosis is rampant in many slums, where overcrowding, poor health and under-nutrition raise risk. The programme takes people to hospitals, buys medicines and gives nutritional support to patients.
End TB
Slum Empowerment
MELA — Medical, Entitlements, Literacy Assistance — runs holistic community empowerment programmes in urban poor communities of central Lucknow, helping people access treatment and their rights.
Read more
OneTara School
Training and learning resources empower anyone to open an informal community school. Teach anyone, teach anywhere — whether 100 students or just one.
Visit OneTara
Each One Teach One
Make someone literate.
With the ALfA toolkit you can teach someone to read in just 30 minutes a day for 30 days.
City Montessori School
Every year since 2014, the Each One Teach One campaign has school and college students use the literacy materials to teach an illiterate child or adult to read. A five-year MoU with CMS Lucknow means 25,000 student volunteers (grades 5–11) participate each year.
Check it out
Lucknow University
Since August 2018, a collaboration with the National Service Scheme of Lucknow University has trained college students to teach illiterate children and adults. Over 1,100 students from 15 colleges have taken the training and 700 ALfA kits have been distributed.
City International School
Students of City International School, Lucknow, have been a driving force behind Each One Teach One — teaching school support staff and children of the nearby Chandan and Sugamau communities.
See how
MS Education Academy
Five teachers became master trainers, spreading the message of service to staff and students. Their vision is a chain reaction of pass-it-on literacy.
MS Education
Uttar Pradesh Middle Schools
In mid-2023, an MoU was signed with the Uttar Pradesh department of secondary education. School students use the Literacy Now App to teach illiterate neighbours, relatives and community members reading, writing and basic arithmetic.
Research & evidence
Reports, books and studies behind the pedagogy.
July 2022
Disruptive Literacy: A Roadmap for Urgent Global Action
How to mobilise a people’s movement for literacy, learning from historical examples and building a roadmap for the 21st century.
Read more
Jan 2024
Accelerating Learning for All: A Groundbreaking Pedagogy to Transform Education
An in-depth account of the ALfA pedagogy, with case studies of classroom implementation in India and around the world.
Read more
March 2023
Rebuilding Resilient Education Systems after the Covid-19 Pandemic
Professor Reimers (ed.) and his graduate students review ALfA implementations in Uttar Pradesh (Chapter 8) and the Maldives (Chapter 10).
Read more
Aug 2021
The Inconvenient Truth of Illiteracy Inequality
Findings from a 2015 literacy survey of 1.5 million people in Lucknow, analysing the compounding effects of caste, age, gender and geography.
Read more
45 Days to Literacy by Flipping the Script
Data and impact stories from ALfA implementation in thousands of schools across North India.
Read more
June 2024
Fast & Holistic FLN Today: A Call to Action
A call to action for fast, holistic foundational learning.
Read more
Feb 2025
ALfA Numeracy: Swift, Scalable, Structured
The ALfA numeracy pedagogy, with data and evidence for its impact through implementations in India and around the world.
Read more
Feb 2025
HP NIPUN Rapid Results Initiative
Early impact as ALfA is rolled out in stages across the state of Himachal Pradesh.
Read more
Jan 2025
Literate Uttar Pradesh: Sab Padhen, Sapne Bunen
Data from ALfA implementations in over 7,000 schools across 4 districts of India’s most populous state.
Read more
Jan 2025
Rapid Results Initiative: Explore, Expand, Embed
How to conduct an ALfA research implementation, leading to scale-up and embedding in education systems.
Read more
May 2024
Empowering Women & Girls
Adult literacy programmes with a particular focus on women and mothers.
Read more
May 2024
Achieving Universal FLN: Swift, Effective, Proven at Scale
ALfA’s impact around the world through a series of country-by-country case studies.
Read moreWatch
Step inside an ALfA classroom.
Training
Massive open online training for teachers.
Dignity Education regularly conducts online training workshops, empowering teachers from across India and around the world with the ALfA methodology — videos from inside the classroom, exploration of the material and hands-on activities.
Highly effective
Going inside real classrooms leads to practical understanding and immediate action.
Highly interactive
Participants use chat and quizzes to interact with each other in real time.
Highly scalable
Hundreds of thousands can participate at the same time.
Highly convenient
Participants can learn from the comfort of home.
No carbon
No need to travel around the world.
Free
No need for an expensive venue and equipment.
Training video repository
Every training film, in one place.
Recorded sessions, methodology demonstrations and classroom walkthroughs for teachers and volunteers.
Showing 22 of 22 items
ALfA English Literacy Booklet
Check out the simple, visual modules that can take children from foundations to fluency in just 45 days.
Open
ALfA English Numeracy Booklet
Check out the simple, visual modules that can take children from foundations to mastery in just 45 days.
Open
ALfA pedagogy overview 2-pager
Understand what the ALfA pedagogy is all about in a nutshell
Open
ALfA Outcomes, Goals & Learning Enablers
Uncover how ALfA builds foundational literacy, numeracy and life skills through simple paired learning routines.
Open
ALfA Teacher Handbook
A concise and practical guide to implementing ALfA in the classroom – from how to make pairs to common FAQs and much more.
Open
Free Repository of Environmental Short Stories
Help your children’s environmental consciousness develop, with these climate-change themed short stories.
Open
ALfA Trainer Guide
A more in-depth look at the ALfA pedagogy, empowering readers to become trainers for ALfA.
Open
Himachal Pradesh Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA implementation in the mountainous state.
Open
Jammu & Kashmir Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA in India’s ‘Paradise on Earth’
Open
Uttar Pradesh Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA in India’s most populous state.
Open
Jharkhand Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA implementation in the land of forests.
Open
Maharashtra Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA in Maharashtra
Open
Arunachal Pradesh Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA in the Land of Dawn-Lit Mountains
Open
Telangana Footage Repository
Check out photos and videos from ALfA in Telangana
Open
ALfA FLN Process Chart
Check out the detail-packed chart which guides schools on the ALfA process
Open
ALfA HP March 2026 Training Report
Explore how large scale online training can also be made highly effective and engaging through hands-on activities and quizzes.
OpenParticipation and effectiveness
Training reach and feedback.
66
Countries with representatives from all 6 continents have participated to date
28
States of India represented among participants
70
Thousand views on the YouTube training videos so far
86%
Of participants said they would ‘definitely’ use ALfA in their class
97%
Of participants passed the quiz and were given free access to ALfA materials
99%
Of teachers said they had new take-away points from the training
Teacher testimonials
What teachers say after the training.
“All the children are learning with each other in pairs, which is remarkable in and of itself. They are learning maths through games. Amazing!”
“All children feel valued and important with paired learning. They also learn how to sit with each other as equals.”
“Children will enjoy learning to read with the ALfA books, because these books are pictorial.”
“Children are learning through games and they are also having fun.”
“Children are learning with the known-to-unknown method, which is highly effective.”
“Greetings from Peru! ALfA will make a big difference here.”
“ALfA techniques of teaching are very interesting for students as well as teachers.”
“This is an excellent method, in which children collaborate to derive the first sound from the name of a picture.”
Assessments
Joyful assessments that guide learning.
ALfA assessments provide instant, detailed feedback that shapes the learning process. Rather than traditional tests which stress students and overburden teachers with marking, children compete against themselves, striving for progress.
Traditional tests
- Only factual recall, motivates ‘mugging up’
- Used to classify students into ‘strong’ and ‘weak’
- No constructive feedback — just a grade
- Time-taking for teachers to mark
ALfA assessments
- Tests higher-order thinking and problem-solving
- Students ‘compete with themselves’ rather than each other
- Students receive detailed feedback to inform further learning
- Teacher burden is reduced through scanning software
