#  Anshul Kumar Successfully Defends Dissertation 

 





January 26, 2018

 

 

Congratulations to Dr. Anshul Kumar—a Global Health fellow at the Incubator—who successfully defended his dissertation, “Innovating in Education: NGO Interventions in New Delhi Government Schools,” on January 22, 2018. Through ethnographic and participant observation, Kumar investigated the structure, teaching methods, and scalability of three New Delhi NGOs aiming to innovate within the existing government school system in India. Because 74% of India’s 260 million students study in government schools, understanding how and why these schools interface with innovation-oriented organizations is essential to understanding larger inequalities—both during adolescence and later in life— in India.

With characteristic humor and thoughtful explanation, Kumar walked through his major findings. He found that government teachers and NGO teachers have dramatically different “cultures of learning” that shape how they categorize student potential (“learners” versus “non-learners) and handle classroom management and teaching strategies. In general, NGO teachers opted for more creative classroom management and teaching approaches, which underscored a broader faith in student capacities to learn. Aside from these cultures of learning, Kumar observed that many of these NGOs are able to scale up to more schools without demonstrating success in student learning outcomes or teacher buy-in—a product of broader political, bureaucratic, and organizational factors at play. Kumar’s committee included [Dr. Christopher Winship](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/christopher-winship) (Chair), Dr. Katherine Merseth, and [Dr. Orlando Patterson](https://sociology.fas.harvard.edu/people/orlando-patterson).

Please join the Incubator in congratulating Dr. Anshul Kumar on this major achievement!



 

 

 



 

 

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