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On a warm February morning in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur district, Sangeeta* scrolled through her WhatsApp messages before class. Among the family updates and school notices she found a three-minute video: another teacher, in a government school like hers, modelled how to get students to speak in full sentences. “It looked good,” she told us later. “I thought, maybe I can try it today.” Nearly 200 kilometres away in Hardoi, Shyamlal* received the same video. He was already juggling two grades in one room and had been called to the block office the next day for data entry work. “I saved it to watch later,” he said. “But ‘later’ never arrived.” The sharply different responses of these two teachers in districts where literacy rates are staggeringly below the national average reflect both the promise and the limits of digital nudges in classrooms amid the everyday realities and constraints of teaching. A promising idea meets a difficult reality According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2024, only about 34 percent of grade 3 children in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP) can read a grade 2 text. Similarly, approximately 24 percent of them can subtract, and 16 percent can divide. Teacher capacity is also stretched: The pupil–teacher ratio is 28:1 at primary level and 25:1 at upper-primary level, with nearly 10,900 single-teacher schools statewide. Internet access remains thin, hindering digital support. As part of the UP government’s push for universal foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by grade 3, the NIPUN Bharat mission provided government teachers with structured pedagogy resources including scripted lesson plans, workbooks, and training. Yet classroom observations revealed a different story: Teachers left lesson guides unused, and more than half of them skipped core practices such as guided student exercises. Could bite-sized, mobile-based nudges—easy to access, behaviourally informed, and low-cost—bridge the gap between resources and actual classroom use? At the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change (CSBC), we apply behavioural science to boost policy and service uptake. We design, test, and refine low-cost interventions with governments and partners in sectors such as health, nutrition, sanitation, financial inclusion, and education. For this, we partnered with a multi-stakeholder team to test whether behavioural principles could improve teachers’ adoption of FLN techniques. CSBC handled behaviour science and evaluation. The study covered approximately 1,900 grade 3 teachers in Sitapur and Hardoi districts. We measured three things: Teachers’ valuation of the supports. Their knowledge of the practices. Their stated intent to use them. For the study, schools were randomly assigned one of three groups: A WhatsApp chatbot with short lesson-plan summaries from the teacher guide, paired with audio support and reminder nudges. It also included recognition features such as weekly streak stickers and monthly report cards, that highlighted their activity with the bot. WhatsApp groups sharing four- to five-minute micro-practice videos that demonstrated a single FLN practice (such as eliciting student responses effectively, combining sound and comprehension activities for reading, and providing focused practice with timely feedback), with three concrete steps, supported by infographics, polls, messenger videos from officials, and periodic recognition for engaging with the intervention.A comparison group with no added support. Both interventions drew on established education practices and applied the EAST behavioural framework to make these resources easy, attractive, social, and timely. Sobering results Six months later, the results were clear. Neither intervention improved adoption, knowledge, or valuation of teaching practices across the whole sample. This aligned with global evidence that shows digital-only teacher supports often yield limited effects without sustained engagement. However, there were glimmers of promise. In Sitapur, teachers like Sangeeta engaged more, and the chatbot slightly boosted the valuation of teacher guides. In Hardoi, where Shyamlal teaches, union resistance reduced engagement, and some measures even declined—a reminder that local politics and institutional trust can make or break reform efforts. Different teacher groups responded differently. Contractual shiksha mitras, often with fewer qualifications and lower pay, showed small but notable boosts in motivation and openness to new methods. Permanent assistant teachers were more likely to increase their valuation of teaching guides after watching the videos. Most strikingly, in both interventions, only 15–20 percent of teachers stayed consistently active. The rest dipped in and out or disengaged entirely. This pattern appears in voluntary teacher professional development programmes in India and abroad. Why teachers tuned out When asked, teachers cited practical barriers. Many struggled with time, balancing multigrade classrooms, long commutes, and administrative work. Some felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of resources already pushed their way. Others faced basic obstacles like patchy connectivity or limited use of WhatsApp. A handful mentioned transfers and mid-year role changes. Credibility was also a concern for teachers. Several hinted that materials from third parties felt less official than those issued directly by government channels. Trust and reliability were thus as important as content. When it worked, it worked well Engaged teachers responded positively: 96 percent of video-watchers tried the demonstrated techniques, and more than 80 percent of chatbot users said they would recommend it to other teachers. Teachers also offered concrete suggestions, including: Adding more teacher guide content to the chatbot, such as stories, poems, homework, and activities. Including more diverse activities to enhance the micro-practice videos. Therefore, the challenge wasn’t usefulness—it was reaching the broad middle. Lessons for the road ahead These results leave us with three broad insights. Context matters: The same nudges landed differently in Sitapur versus Hardoi. This was shaped by initial buy-in, union dynamics, and trust in delivery channels. Account for teacher diversity: Supports must be tailored to teachers’ contexts, motivations, and needs. One size does not fit all. Nudges alone are not enough: Digital supports work best as a complement, and not as a substitute, to sustained, in-person coaching. Our findings echo global evidence: Pairing online content with mentoring, peer networks, and trusted delivery channels is more likely to change daily practice and student outcomes than light-touch digital tools alone. To achieve National Education Policy 2020 and NIPUN Bharat goals, we must invest not just in the ‘what’ of resources, but in the ‘how’ of adoption. This means working with the realities of teachers’ time, beliefs, and contexts, and creating professional development that is not only informative but also supportive, social, and sustained. Because, as our work in Uttar Pradesh reminds us, real change in the classroom rarely happens at the tap of a WhatsApp message. *Names changed to maintain confidentiality. Learn why India’s teacher training landscape needs urgent reform. Read this article to understand how teacher development in India can be overhauled.
