There is a strong case for disruption. Classrooms today look much like they did a century ago—rows of desks, teacher at the front, and one-way instruction. Despite decades of reform, learning gaps persist and have even widened. Yet, we continue to deliver learning in a format that was designed for the 19th century. This system worked in a different era. It was not designed to ignite collaboration, autonomy, or speed—all of which are essential today.
The urgency for change is not just academic. The gaps created by a traditional education impact the equity, opportunity, and social mobility of learners. In this age of AI, global interconnectivity, and infinite information, these gaps are likely to widen even more.
We need to rethink education and the role of the child in their own learning. Children are too often treated as passive recipients of knowledge, waiting to be “filled up”. But we have witnessed how today’s children are not only capable, they are also curious. Further, they are collaborative by nature. When we give them agency to learn with each other, they not only learn faster, they learn better, together.
Peer-led learning
Peer-led learning flips the script. Students learn by teaching, questioning, and correcting each other. When children teach each other, when they ask questions made by themselves for each other, and when they check each other’s work, they understand more. They retain more. They learn more deeply. They learn faster.
Explaining concepts builds mastery. When a child teaches a peer, cognitive empathy emerges. Children know how to simplify explanations for each other in ways adults often cannot. It sparks imagination and creativity. The process is natural and organic. It is remarkably effective.
Learning is also much faster. Time wasted in waiting for others to catch up, or for all learners to be on the same page, is dramatically reduced because students are no longer waiting for their turn to understand. The classroom becomes a network of mini-tutors working simultaneously, reducing dependence on one authority figure. Time wasted on rote repetition is saved for meaningful interactions that keep the children engaged with learning.
Reimagining the teacher’s role
This model doesn’t eliminate the teacher—it reimagines their role as a galvaniser, a guide, and a designer of learning experiences. Teachers support, observe, help scaffold, and empower. The learning momentum comes from the students themselves.
This shift also relieves pressure on teachers, who have been acting as master puppeteers, controlling all aspects of learning. They have been active, while the children are passively waiting for the next lesson or the instruction, not only wasting time, but also leading to boredom. Boredom, as per meta-analysis of worldwide research by Prof. John Hattie, is the greatest opponent of learning.
The belief that learning must take a long time is deeply entrenched. But this belief isn’t based on neuroscience or psychology—it’s based on institutional inertia. Children don’t need three years to read if they’re given the chance to engage, question, explain, and explore with peers. Peer-led learning closes learning gaps not slowly, but at record speed—especially when supported by a clear structure.
Accelerated learning for all
One initiative that dared to believe in children’s agency is Accelerated Learning for All (ALfA). The children in low-income communities have closed multi-year learning gaps in a matter of months—through nothing more than structured peer learning, agency, and trust.
One of the most powerful forms of this has been paired learning—a focused, highly effective type of peer-led learning. Instead of depending solely on instruction from the teacher, students learn by interacting with one another—explaining, questioning, and correcting each other.
The flow of learning changes direction: rather than moving only from teacher to child, it now moves from child to child. It turns the classroom into a shared space of thinking and doing, where each learner takes turns and works as equals, and without differentiation based on ability, gender, and background.
This is a proof of concept that success does not stem from technology, funding, or external expertise. It testifies that success comes from unleashing the power already present in the classroom. Peer-led learning builds confidence, communication, and cooperation. Children gain a sense of ownership and pride, “I am not just learning, I am helping others learn.” This nurtures not only cognitive skills, but leadership, empathy, and emotional resilience.
What is holding us back?
Fear of loss of control: Traditional systems cling to authority models that place adults in charge of every outcome. Standardised testing doesn’t reward collaboration or peer learning. Change threatens entrenched systems and mindsets. It requires acceptance of the new which is not always easy. However, much like the transition to a mobile phone seemed difficult at first to an old granny, once given a chance, it is a permanent change, no looking back. Once children take charge of their leaning, teachers begin to feel its benefits.
There is a growing body of evidence proving that agency-based, peer-led models like paired learning can achieve what traditional methods struggle to deliver. Such programs show what’s possible not just at the level of individual experience, it shows that the results are far better.
Starting in just 20 schools, ALfA scaled to more than 35,000 in three years. Evaluated through a randomised controlled trial by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, it showed significant learning gains—effect sizes of 0.23 for Grade 3 and 0.89 for Grade 5—in just 40 days.
We must trust children, with structure and support, to be active agents of their own learning. The chalkboard was a tool of the industrial-age classroom—uniform, top-down, standardised. Today’s world demands something different: adaptive, inclusive, empowering education. When children teach each other, we don’t just accelerate learning—we redefine what school can be.
Every major disruption has faced ridicule. Planes were absurd until they flew. Electricity was dangerous until it lit up the world. The internet was a toy until it redefined knowledge. In education, too, anything new—especially if fast, simple, or effective—is met with scepticism. Many resist because they believe only adults can teach properly. History tells us that progress begins where comfort ends.
With generative AI now writing, calculating, and even coding, the question is no longer “What can we teach kids?” but “What can they do that machines cannot?” The answer lies in creativity, social learning, emotional intelligence, and peer collaboration.
The chalkboard once symbolised a uniform, top-down model of education. But today’s world demands something else. It calls for flexibility, collaboration, trust, and inclusion. When children learn together—really together—we don’t just close gaps. We redefine what education can be.
(Sunita Gandhi, Ph.D., Physics, Founder, Dignity Education Vision International (DEVI Sansthan)
