London: XPRIZE Accelerate Learning, a US$6 million global competition aimed at improving foundational reading and mathematics skills among children, has been launched by XPRIZE in partnership with the British Asian Trust.
The two-year competition, with ShikshaNext supporting its India initiative, aims to help Grade 1 students across India develop foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) skills faster through innovative, technology-driven learning solutions.
India has prioritised foundational literacy and numeracy since 2021. According to ASER 2024, reading levels among students in government schools have improved from 16% to 23%.
However, there remains a significant opportunity to reach more children and accelerate foundational learning outcomes.
Against this backdrop, XPRIZE Accelerate Learning seeks to bring together innovators, educators, technology developers and institutions to develop solutions that can improve children’s learning outcomes at scale.
The US$6 million competition will run for two years and follows an outcomes-driven model.
Participating teams will compete for prize funding and must demonstrate the effectiveness of their solutions through an independent randomised controlled trial (RCT).
This approach is designed to provide funders and governments with clear evidence of which interventions deliver measurable improvements in foundational learning.
Participants will also have opportunities to establish connections with potential funders and investors.
XPRIZE Accelerate Learning: Two Competition Tracks
The competition features two distinct tracks, each designed to address different challenges in improving foundational literacy and numeracy among children in India.
1. Core Track
The Core Track will be implemented in India in partnership with the British Asian Trust.
Under this track, participating teams must demonstrate at least a 25% improvement in learning mastery among 150,000 first-grade students.
The solutions must achieve this improvement at a cost of less than US$10 per child per year.
The track is designed to encourage scalable and cost-effective approaches to improving foundational reading and mathematics skills among young learners.
2. Last Mile Moonshot Track
The Last Mile Moonshot Track will be driven through a partnership with ShikshaNext in India.
Under this category, teams will be required to develop technology-based learning solutions in collaboration with teachers.
Participating teams must demonstrate at least a 50% improvement in learning outcomes while keeping the cost below US$40 per child per year.
The track focuses on combining technology and teacher-led approaches to address learning gaps and improve educational outcomes.
Commenting on the launch of XPRIZE Accelerate Learning, Anousheh Ansari, Chief Executive Officer of XPRIZE, said the competition aims to expand learning opportunities for children irrespective of their geographical location, income or circumstances.
“XPRIZE Accelerate Learning reimagines what’s possible for every child, regardless of geography, income, or circumstance,” said Anousheh Ansari, Chief Executive Officer, XPRIZE.
“We’re challenging innovators to harness the latest technology and learning sciences to develop solutions for each child’s pace, language, and cultural context. By putting the child and their learning ecosystem at center, we can unlock lifelong opportunities for children and families around the world.”
The competition will encourage innovators to use emerging technologies and learning sciences to create solutions that account for differences in children’s learning pace, languages and cultural contexts.
By focusing on individual learning requirements and the broader learning ecosystem, XPRIZE aims to support approaches that can improve educational opportunities for children and families.
British Asian Trust Highlights Need for Innovation and Investment
Hitan Mehta OBE, Chief Executive of the British Asian Trust, said improving foundational learning outcomes in India at scale requires approaches that go beyond conventional methods.
“Our work to strengthen foundational learning in India has shown that achieving change at scale requires us to think beyond conventional approaches and bring together ambition, innovation and investment.
By putting measurable outcomes at the centre, we can give funders confidence that their investments are driving meaningful change, while helping promising innovations reach far more children,” said Hitan Mehta OBE, Chief Executive, British Asian Trust.
The partnership with XPRIZE is aimed at encouraging innovation and investment in solutions that can demonstrate measurable improvements in foundational learning.
Through its two competition tracks, XPRIZE Accelerate Learning will support different approaches to improving learning outcomes, with specific targets for student reach, learning improvements and implementation costs.
XPRIZE Accelerate Learning: Registration Deadlines and Eligibility
Registration for XPRIZE Accelerate Learning is open to participants from different backgrounds, including start-ups, universities and individuals.
Interested participants can apply under either of the two competition tracks, subject to their respective eligibility and requirements.
The registration deadlines are:
- Last Mile Moonshot Track: February 15, 2027. – Core Track: March 15, 2027.
Interested participants can register through the official competition website: xprize.org/competitions/accelerate-learning.
