What it takes to introduce Social Emotional Learning in schools

This article is authored by Simran Mulchandani, co-founder and CEO, Rangeet.

At a government school in Dehradun, students were invited to share stories of change with my co-founder Karishma Menon and me.

Social emotional learning (Freepik)

Ten-year-old Deepak stood up in his baggy uniform and told us something remarkable. A few months earlier, his 15-year-old neighbour, Sarika, had confided in him that her parents were forcing her into marriage. Deepak was angry and confused. He understood now why Sarika had stopped coming to school, something that directly contradicted what he had learned through a gender equity module.

What he did next was extraordinary.

With the support of his teacher and parents, Deepak chose to act. They spoke with Sarika’s parents. The parents saw reason, and the marriage was stopped. Sarika returned to school.

Stories like Deepak’s are powerful. But any programme can produce isolated outcomes. The real challenge is doing this consistently, and at scale.

Today’s education landscape is crowded with programmes-- wellbeing, SEL, life skills. The terminology alone can overwhelm parents and educators.

Children today face a world vastly different from the one of 30–50 years ago, marked by mental health crises, digital addiction, broken family and social bonds, and the spectre of the climate crisis, all of which shapes them.

Research across socio-economic and cultural contexts shows these programmes are essential scaffolding to the core curriculum. As Dr Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution, says, they “build better leaders, learners and carers.” Given how much the world has changed, shouldn’t we prioritise preparing children with the human skills to thrive?

Scaling programmes that build socio-emotional competencies is inherently hard, driven by the costs of training, quality of materials and delivery, administrative complexity, and teacher motivation. Measuring impact adds layers of difficulty.

Here are a few lessons learnt from scaling our social emotional and ecological knowledge curriculum to 700,000 children across India and Africa:

• Human-centric design: Listening to the community is the foundation of scale. Programmes that fail are often built in echo chambers. Teachers, parents, students, and administrators are not just stakeholders; they are co-creators. Real-world usage and feedback loops improve adoption.
• Tech as a tool, not a teacher: AI and digital tools are reshaping classrooms, often without clear evidence of learning gains. In some cases, they even weaken critical thinking owing to cognitive offloading. AI helps scaling but needs to be used wisely and in support of teachers. A machine cannot teach children how to be human.
• Teach the way the brain thinks and learns: Learning is inherently social. For sustainable scaling one must focus not only on quantity but quality of outcomes. Real learning happens through human-to-human interaction, not through screens. Technology can assist, but it cannot substitute the social nature of learning.
• System acceptance: A wise Kenyan administrator told me: “Be like water. Flow like a river; don’t be a boulder that blocks it.”

Programmes must align with existing educational frameworks so that teachers, administrators, and parents see value and willingly adopt them.

• Community and parents: In an age where social media divides and AI seeks to replace us, community matters more than ever. We are hyper-connected, yet lonelier than ever. Education’s mission must include strengthening family bonds, social cohesion and developing a sense of resilience and purpose.
• Crossing the chasm: Even the best-designed programmes fail if teachers aren’t motivated.

Many products fail even after innovators and early adopters (~2.5% and 13.5% of the target teacher base respectively) get involved. To gain market share of the early majority (34%), considered a milestone of success, requires deep collaboration with initial teacher cohorts.

In his book Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore expands on this.

• Start by working closely with and learning from innovators and early adopters
• Build a focused beachhead market and co-design
• Develop case studies and proof of impact
• Create a supporting and rewarding ecosystem for them

Only once the product is complete, reliable and well-supported should you consider the early majority. Timing this transition is an art.

The work demands constant listening, learning, innovation and adaptation. Experience, partnerships and evidence have shaped these ideas; but like everything in life and in education, they will evolve.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Simran Mulchandani, co-founder and CEO, Rangeet.