Mantra Social Services

Enabling Enriching Learning Experiences for Every Child

Founded in the year 2013, Mantra4Change is a Bangalore based non-profit that works in the field of school improvement and education leadership development. MANTRA is an acronym that stands for ‘Maverick Association for Novelty, Transformation, and Radical Augmentation’. They work towards the holistic development of society – the key components being quality and equity in education. The organization is supported by the Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiative. 

In 2013, founders Santosh More and Khushboo Awasthi, driven by an urge to improve the quality of education for children in India, established Mantra4Change. With 450 million children ready to enter a skill-intensive workforce by 2025, the question looming over them was, if we were equipping our children with 21st-century skills and if we were in fact working towards creating a society one with equal opportunities for all? 

Started as a pilot program in 2 schools in Bengaluru, Mantra4Change has evolved into an ecosystem builder, contextualizing transformation and change efforts across geographies. Through its School Transformation & Empowerment Project (STEP – low-income private schools), Project for Active Cluster Engagement (PACE – public schools), Systemic Transformation for Resilience, Innovation, and Developing Education Ecosystem (STRIDE – state-level program), and EduMentum (Incubation program for early-stage non-profits), Mantra4Change is building a community to harness collective power to achieve systemic education transformation across India. 

Currently, Mantra4Change is present in Bengaluru (Karnataka), Delhi, Punjab, and Bihar through direct interventions. The organization is staffed with over 60 employees working across these geographies and is impacting the quality of education for 10 million students across 75,000 schools.

Vision: Every child receives an enriching learning experience

Mission: Enabling the education ecosystem to Lead continuous and sustainable Improvements across 1,50,000 Schools by 2025

USP: A systemic approach to program design and contextual problem-solving which prioritizes sustainability.

Achievements

• Within five years of operations, the program has got ready acceptance in over 200 schools across three educational blocks in Bangalore, including Government-run and low-fee private schools. 
• Mantra was recognized by the Government of Karnataka for the Project of Active Cluster Engagement in 2018.
• In 2019, Mantra signed an MoU with the Punjab State Education Board to transform 19,000 Government-run schools in the state. 
• Since 2018, Mantra has been working with the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights to run an assessment-led improvement project in 5500 schools across the state.
• Mantra4Change are supported through funding from esteemed organizations and individuals like Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Shibulal Family Philanthropic Initiative (Advaith Foundation), Wells Fargo, and Tech Mahindra Foundation, among others. 
• They are proud recipients of WIPRO’s seeding fellowship grant – WATIS and have been a part of the first cohort of incubatees under NSRCEL Social, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore. 
• The organization has developed associations with esteemed organizations, like the Azim Premji University, ISPF Foundation, BEETF (Bangalore Effective Education Task Force), IIMS (Indian Institute for Montessori Studies), etc. 

For Testimonials from mentors and stakeholders, click here. 

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Work in the Media

Working with the System: Mantra4Change – 2020

Transforming Schools: Mantra4Change – 2019

TLM Mela – 2019

School Development Index – 2018

Government School Showcase – 2019

EduMentum Launch – 2019