The Children’s LoveCastles Trust (CLT) story began in 1997 from a room with a view...

“From my apartment window, I would see children building castles out of the mud. Kids who should be spending their time in school were out accompanying their parents at the construction site. This scene which resonated with me would repeat itself day after day until I realized a universal truth – Children loved building castles and homes – a place of belonging, whether at the beach, a playground or here at a construction site. Children’s LoveCastles Trust (CLT) was born out of a passion to keep kids in school. To give them the education they deserve, so they can go build on their dreams and aspirations.”

Bhagya Rangachar

Founder

There was a natural progression and evolution of our work into the education space while we were doing school mid-day meal programs. It gave us a window into the everyday struggle that the government schools were faced with: not being able to provide teachers for every grade, one-teacher-one-room schools, and teacher absenteeism at its worst. It would get much worse in rural areas to attract and retain qualified teachers.

1.2M

Teacher shortage in India today. Retaining qualified educators in rural government classrooms remains a persistent barrier to quality education.

Our idea was to have a hub to bring in the best of teachers to centralize pedagogy, map it to National curricula, customize it to every State, and leverage technology for its strength in replication and distribution. Personalized access and equity to quality education for every child at the local level has paid dividends.

Roadmap

Our Journey

A timeline of innovation, growth, and educational impact

1997

Trust Incorporated — Children's LoveCastles Trust is officially incorporated, starting with a room with a view.

1998

Mid-Day Meal Pioneered — Pioneered the school mid-day meal program for government school students in Karnataka.

2000

Srujana Centre Set Up — Setup the Srujana Learning Centre as a pilot for introducing ICT tools in government schools.

2002

Intel Partnership — Intel partnered with CLT to establish the only Intel Computer Club House in India—an after school program for under-served youth to explore technology.

2005

US Foundation Registration — CLT International Foundation Inc. is officially registered in Virginia, USA.

2006

e-Patashale Concept — Conceptualised the e-Patashale program as the first ever digital STEM program in regional languages, piloting in 100 schools.

2007

Digital Study Hall & Microsoft Research Foundation Collaboration to launch a pilot program to record the best teaching practices and distributing it to under-served schools.

2011

CISCO Partnership CISCO partnered with CLT to conduct distance-teaching program through web-ex for remote government schools.

2012

Research Cell Established — Setup a dedicated research cell for pedagogy and technology to build a scalable and replicable model for e-Patashale.

2013

USAID FICCI Award — Won the USAID FICCI Millennium Alliance Award for low-cost technology innovation in education.

2014

Ecosystem Deployment — Partnered with CSR networks and the Department of Education to scale and build sustainable e-learning classrooms.

2015

Seven Changemakers — Identified as one of Seven Changemakers under the Dasra & USAID research on girl education impact in secondary schools.

2016

Digital Learning Box — Established the custom, SIM-enabled 'Digital Learning Box' in-house lab, enabling remote content updates and analytics.

2017

Hindi States Expansion — Extended the e-Patashale program to Hindi speaking states (UP, Bihar, Rajasthan) and started a pilot in Maharashtra.

2018

Jigi App Platform — Introduced the Jigi App Platform—custom mobile applications built specifically for teachers.

2020

2nd Millennium Alliance Award — Received the 2nd Millennium Alliance Grant to develop Early Grade Reading (EGR) digital resources in Kannada.

2021

Study from Home Campaign — Successfully launched the "Study from Home" campaign with the JIGI-JIGI app to counter the school closures during COVID.

2022

Year Overview & Expansion:

  • Expansion: CLT reaches Nagaland.
  • Programs: Launched Digital Literacy v1.5 in Kannada; launched CLT India Digital Literacy program in Telugu in 10 schools in Hyderabad.
  • Awards: MATH POWER! PRIZE, GCPIT Award.
2023

Social Stock Exchange Registration — Official registration completed in 2023, opening new avenues for impact funding.

2024
  • EGR Program Launch: Launched the Early Grade Reading (EGR) Program in 92 government schools across Karnataka to strengthen foundational literacy for Grades 1–4.
  • Expansion: Expanded CLT e-Patashale classroom initiatives to aspirational districts.
  • Recognition: Founder Bhagya Rangachar named among the Top 10 Women Leaders in E-Learning 2024 by Women Entrepreneur Review.
2025
  • Christ University Impact Report: Published an impact report on the Early Grade Reading (EGR) program in collaboration with Christ University.
  • Expansion: CLT reaches 2 new states — West Bengal and Odisha.
Recognition

Awards & Honors

Recognition of Our Work and Impact

USAID & FICCI Award

USAID & FICCI

June 2013 — Received the Millennium Alliance Award for "Low-cost innovation in e-Learning".

August 2020 — Received the Millennium Alliance Award a second time for the Early Grade Reading (EGR) Initiative.

Digital India Award

Digital India

CLT India was honored with the Digital India Award 2017 for its "Digital innovation in e-Education" learning solutions by the Times Network.

Manthan Awards

Manthan Awards

CLT India’s innovative contribution was recognized in the "Field of Science and Technology" with the Manthan Award South West India 2014.

Social Innovation Award

Social Innovation

Recognized as one of the 50 most impactful social innovators globally on World CSR Day 2017.

More Awards

A glimpse of our recognitions and achievements over the years.

Explore All Awards →
Bhagya Rangachar
Founder

Bhagya Rangachar

Ms. Bhagya Rangachar is the Founder of CLT India and President of the CLT International Foundation Inc., U.S.A. She served as CEO from 1997-2021 August. Bhagya lived in the U.S. and worked as a Software Professional for more than 15 years. Her academic and professional background has been in Science, Mathematics and Technology. She has completed Social Impact Leadership Program – a Dasra and Harvard Cohort. She has also been part of many technology and leadership cohorts in Boston at the Computer Clubhouse Network.

She has overseen the development of CLT for over 20 years, from being a Trust that was first to implement mid-day meals in government schools in Karnataka State to an organization that has developed large repository of NCERT-based digital STEM content in regional languages with low-cost technology delivery models and data analytics. Her body of work has been to bridge the gap of missed learning opportunities in STEM in rural schools due to teacher shortage and lack of learning resources in regional languages; and leveraging technology for distribution and scale. The recent launch of 2 mobile APPs in Google Play Store, Jigi and Jigi Jigi is to further amplify the efforts to give access to quality education in under-served communities. Bhagya was listed as one of 100 women in the Coffee Table Book, 'Phenomenal She' by Indian National Bar Association and has been recognized as one of the 50 Globally Listed Social Innovators on World CSR Day 2017.

Under her leadership, CLT has won many awards, including – 2 Millennium Alliance Awards by FICCI and USAID for low-cost innovation in e-learning, Digital India award by the Times Group. CNBC 18 recently showcased CLT as one of the leading changemakers in the country.

Governance

Our Board

Guiding CLT India towards scale, compliance, and lasting impact

Bhagya Rangachar
Bhagya Rangachar
Gayathri Krishna
Gayathri Krishna
Ashish Kasi
Ashish Kasi
Dr. S. Seetha
Dr. S. Seetha
Jayashri Murali
Jayashri Murali

“Bhagya Rangachar is the interim CEO”

Advisory

Advisory Committee

Kentaro Toyama
Kentaro Toyama
Rohit Setty
Rohit Setty
Marina Kundu
Marina Kundu
Francis Vérillaud
Francis Vérillaud
Farookh Syed
Farookh Syed
Ian Correa
Ian Correa
Operations

Our Core Team

The dedicated builders executing e-Patashale and digital programs daily

Sachin
Sachin
Head – IT & Field Operations
Shruthi Pujari
Shruthi Pujari
Project Manager (STEM)
Yamuna
Yamuna
Head (Accounts & HR)
Shivacharan H R
Shivacharan H R
Associate (Operations)
Shivam Kumar V
Shivam Kumar V
Associate (IT & WEB Developer)