Chimple Joins ShikshaNext ScaleX - From Proven Learning to Public-System Scale.

Some milestones are best understood not as finish lines, but as the encouragement and push to go further.

Chimple Learning has been selected as an EdTech ScaleX partner under ShikshaNext, a multi-donor initiative working to bring evidence-backed EdTech and AI solutions into India’s classrooms and learning ecosystems. For Chimple, this is not simply an announcement. It is a runway — a chance to take a learning approach built for children in low-resource settings and help it reach many more learners through public systems and community-led programmes.

Every child deserves the chance to build the foundations that shape the rest of their learning life: the confidence to read, the comfort to work with numbers, and the curiosity to keep trying when something feels difficult. Yet for many children, especially in communities with limited connectivity, large classrooms, and few learning resources at home, those early foundations can be hard to strengthen.

Chimple was built with this reality in mind. The free, open-source app uses playful, game-based activities to support foundational literacy and numeracy, helping children learn at their own pace. It is designed to work on basic Android devices, includes content that can be accessed offline, and connects the child’s learning journey with teachers and families. For a child, this may look like a simple game. But behind that moment is a carefully designed pathway: an opportunity to practise a sound, unlock a word, make sense of a number, and discover that learning can be joyful.

The work has been tested where it matters most: with children. Chimple was a finalist in the Global Learning XPRIZE and was field-tested with UNESCO in Tanzania. In India, a 2024 randomized controlled trial of Chimple’s teacher-directed, at-home learning model was conducted by researchers from Wellesley College and the University of Virginia. ShikshaNext has recognised Chimple as a teacher-directed, at-home gamified mobile-learning solution for children aged 4 to 10, selected under the ScaleX pathway alongside four other solutions.

ScaleX is designed for precisely this next step: helping proven solutions move beyond pilots and become more deeply integrated with government education systems and community-led programmes. ShikshaNext is a three-year, ₹170 crore initiative that aims to support meaningful technology- and AI-enabled learning opportunities for more than 13 million children by 2029.

The initiative brings together a powerful coalition: the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Reliance Foundation, and the Gates Foundation as Founding Strategic Partners; Anthropic as Supporting Partner; and Central Square Foundation as Managing Partner. Their commitment reflects a shared belief that technology has value only when it helps improve real learning outcomes — particularly for children who have historically had the fewest opportunities.

For Chimple Learning, this recognition is a reminder of what has made the journey possible: the trust of teachers and families, the leadership of government partners, the insight of researchers, and the commitment of funders and implementers who believe that early learning deserves serious, sustained investment.

The road ahead is ambitious. It will mean learning from every classroom, improving with every child’s interaction, and working closely with public systems so that game-based learning can become a consistent part of a child’s school-and-home journey.

Chimple has always believed that joyful learning should not be a privilege. With ShikshaNext ScaleX, the work now has a stronger pathway to help make that belief real for many more children.