Learning
Edition 08 | August 2025
Feature Article
Shaping Future-Ready Learners: Building a School-
Family Partnership that Works
Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd. DadaMastan Layout, Manayata Tech Park, Nagavara, Bangalore- 560045
Subject: Teaching Backwards to Move Forward- Leveraging SAFAL for Better Learning Outcomes
Dear Educators,
Warm greetings!
Thank you for doing what you do — quietly, every day, building the future one question at a time.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the joy of speaking to many teachers from across the country. Some were curious about what’s next, others asked important, sharp questions — and all, without fail, radiated a deep commitment to the children they teach. It is this quiet revolution, happening classroom by classroom, that gives me hope.
From 2025–26, SAFAL-KSA becomes mandatory for all CBSE schools for Classes 6 and 9. Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning — that’s what SAFAL stands for. But more than an acronym, it’s a signal. A nudge. A mirror held up to how we assess learning in our classrooms.
The National Education Policy 2020 laid the foundation. Board exam reforms and CUET are building on it. And now SAFAL lights up this vision of moving our classrooms from rote answers to meaningful learning. I know many of you are asking, “Will it be implemented well? Are the questions strong enough? Will the reports be actionable?” These are fair questions, and we must keep asking them — because that’s how systems improve. The honest truth is that no system begins perfectly. This too will have a bumpy ride for some, smoother for others, and perhaps little effect for many in the first years. But it’s a start — a shift away from memorisation towards meaning-making, from ‘Did they write the answer?’ to ‘Did they understand the concept?’ Yes, I am an optimist with an action bias — and I welcome your healthy scepticism.
Here’s a paradox I’ve been reflecting on and discussing with teachers:
Why should a test in Class 5 change the way we teach in Class 1?
Because learning isn’t a moment. It’s a trajectory. Let’s take an actual competency from the SAFAL Class 5 sample paper: ‘Identify and represent fractions using objects, pictures, and symbols, and identify relative magnitude.
Dear Educators,
Warm greetings!
Thank you for doing what you do — quietly, every day, building the future one question at a time.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the joy of speaking to many teachers from across the country. Some were curious about what’s next, others asked important, sharp questions — and all, without fail, radiated a deep commitment to the children they teach. It is this quiet revolution, happening classroom by classroom, that gives me hope.
From 2025–26, SAFAL-KSA becomes mandatory for all CBSE schools for Classes 6 and 9. Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning — that’s what SAFAL stands for. But more than an acronym, it’s a signal. A nudge. A mirror held up to how we assess learning in our classrooms.
The National Education Policy 2020 laid the foundation. Board exam reforms and CUET are building on it. And now SAFAL lights up this vision of moving our classrooms from rote answers to meaningful learning. I know many of you are asking, “Will it be implemented well? Are the questions strong enough? Will the reports be actionable?” These are fair questions, and we must keep asking them — because that’s how systems improve. The honest truth is that no system begins perfectly. This too will have a bumpy ride for some, smoother for others, and perhaps little effect for many in the first years. But it’s a start — a shift away from memorisation towards meaning-making, from ‘Did they write the answer?’ to ‘Did they understand the concept?’ Yes, I am an optimist with an action bias — and I welcome your healthy scepticism.
Here’s a paradox I’ve been reflecting on and discussing with teachers:
Why should a test in Class 5 change the way we teach in Class 1?
Because learning isn’t a moment. It’s a trajectory. Let’s take an actual competency from the SAFAL Class 5 sample paper: ‘Identify and represent fractions using objects, pictures, and symbols, and identify relative magnitude.
This isn’t just about counting slices. It’s about visualising a whole, partitioning it, and reasoning proportionally
Now trace it backwards:- In Class 3, children are expected to ‘identify and represent fractions using pictorial models’.
- In Class 2, they begin to link halves and quarters to everyday objects.
- In Class 1, the journey starts with something deceptively simple: ‘sorts and classifies objects’ — the cognitive root of seeing parts and wholes
That’s the insight: a Class 5 fraction skill is seeded in a Class 1 sorting activity.
Ei ASSET data echoes this. In one Class 4 Ei ASSET Maths question on fractions, only 22.8% of 6,615 chose option C and answered correctly.
A significant 42.5% chose option D, a common wrong answer, revealing a strong misconception — that fractions can be any division into parts, rather than equal parts of a whole.
Now imagine a powerful feedback loop where each year’s insights feed the previous years’ teaching,
strengthening competencies before the child moves up. That’s why backward design matters. Every higher
order competency is a staircase of smaller, earlier cognitive steps — and we can plan for them intentionally,
right from the start
This is where Understanding by Design (UbD) comes in. I like to call it planning a trip backwards
1.Where do we want to go? (That’s the desired result — the Class 6 competencies, for example)
2.How will we know we’ve reached? (That’s the evidence — year-on-year feedback from our assessments)
3.What will the journey look like? (That’s the experience — what we teach based on the assessment informing instruction)
This is where Understanding by Design (UbD) comes in. I like to call it planning a trip backwards
1.Where do we want to go? (That’s the desired result — the Class 6 competencies, for example)
2.How will we know we’ve reached? (That’s the evidence — year-on-year feedback from our assessments)
3.What will the journey look like? (That’s the experience — what we teach based on the assessment informing instruction)
The good news is: you don’t have to wait for SAFAL to arrive to start building SAFAL-ready skills.
For over two decades, more than 2,000 schools have trusted the Ei ASSET ecosystem and Ei CARES to close the loop between evidence and action: insight → teacher response → richer learning → fresh insight. Together, they create a culture where concepts and competencies grow hand in hand — deep understanding built alongside the ability to apply it. Ei ASSET acts as a year-round ecosystem of diagnostic insight and teacher support; Ei CARES threads formative checkpoints through the year, ensuring conceptual gaps are addressed when they are still small. Schools using this ecosystem consistently report something that goes beyond test scores — classrooms where assessment drives growth, not anxiety; teachers with agency and clarity; and learners who approach challenges with confidence because every question becomes a stepping stone rather than a verdict.
It’s a mindset shift. From ‘Assessment as a report card’ to ‘Assessment as a compass’.
Whether it’s SAFAL today or PISA tomorrow, these are not ends. They are mirrors. Maps. Moments guiding us towards better instruction, stronger foundations, and more empowered learners. So, dear teachers, thank you again for being part of this shift.
The future doesn’t come with a full question paper. But together, we can prepare our children for it — one skill, one question, one conversation at a time.
Warm regards,
Prakhar
For over two decades, more than 2,000 schools have trusted the Ei ASSET ecosystem and Ei CARES to close the loop between evidence and action: insight → teacher response → richer learning → fresh insight. Together, they create a culture where concepts and competencies grow hand in hand — deep understanding built alongside the ability to apply it. Ei ASSET acts as a year-round ecosystem of diagnostic insight and teacher support; Ei CARES threads formative checkpoints through the year, ensuring conceptual gaps are addressed when they are still small. Schools using this ecosystem consistently report something that goes beyond test scores — classrooms where assessment drives growth, not anxiety; teachers with agency and clarity; and learners who approach challenges with confidence because every question becomes a stepping stone rather than a verdict.
It’s a mindset shift. From ‘Assessment as a report card’ to ‘Assessment as a compass’.
Whether it’s SAFAL today or PISA tomorrow, these are not ends. They are mirrors. Maps. Moments guiding us towards better instruction, stronger foundations, and more empowered learners. So, dear teachers, thank you again for being part of this shift.
The future doesn’t come with a full question paper. But together, we can prepare our children for it — one skill, one question, one conversation at a time.
Warm regards,
Prakhar
Are these principles already part of your teaching toolkit?
We’d love to hear your story!
Share how you bring these principles to life in your classroom and inspire fellow educators. Write to us at prakhar.ghildyal@ei.study and tell us about your unique teaching journey
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