Equipping over 250,000 educators with the right tools: Simple Education Foundation's story with Zoho Creator

The organization

Founded in 2013, Simple Education Foundation (SEF) is a nonprofit organization based out of India's capital, Delhi. Built on the belief that teachers play a vital role in shaping the youth of the country, SEF focuses on equipping educators with the right tools, methods, and resources to perform their best.

They believe that effective education shapes the next generation with the skills, competencies, and mindsets needed to build a society grounded in harmony, compassion, and mutual respect.

SEF partners with state governments to design and implement large-scale teacher development programs that include training, coaching, and classroom tools. These programs focus on strengthening foundational learning, improving classroom engagement, and building life skills.

Today, SEF has impacted over 250,000 teachers across Delhi, Uttarakhand, and Punjab.

The challenges

With scale came complexity, and SEF recognized that technology would play a critical role in sustaining their impact.

In 2021, their operations were managed using a combination of Google Forms, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, and open-source dashboarding tools. While this setup worked initially, it became increasingly difficult to sustain as their programs scaled.

Over time, several challenges began to surface:

• Inefficiencies in collecting and managing data in spreadsheets
• Time-consuming manual data processing
• Fragmented data across multiple tools
• Access limitations across teams

Each state maintained its own datasets in separate spreadsheets, resulting in scattered and disconnected records. Data from training sessions—including attendance, teacher assessments, and facilitator feedback—was spread across multiple sources with no unified view.

As a result, generating insights became a manual, time-intensive process. Teams had to extract, process, and reconcile data across sources, often taking two to three weeks just to produce a usable dashboard.

"That's when we began looking for a platform that could replicate what we had already built, but in a more efficient, scalable way," says Mainak.

After evaluating other platforms, SEF chose Zoho Creator for the ease it offered in building custom applications. The decision was further shaped by Mainak's familiarity with Akshay V, founder of EdZola, a trusted Zoho implementation Partner with deep experience in the nonprofit sector. With EdZola's support, SEF translated its program requirements into a structured technical architecture.

Together, SEF and EdZola built a unified, tailored system to manage their end-to-end processes.

The solution

Using Zoho Creator, SEF built multiple applications to support different aspects of their programs. These applications address key operational gaps in monitoring and evaluation for large-scale, state-wide teacher training initiatives.

Here's a closer look at the core modules:

Program management

This module provides SEF with a centralized view of all training programs across states. It captures key details like program name, intervention level, state, and associated stakeholders.

Each program is linked to its respective sessions, with facilitator and participant roles managed through a structured cascade model.

To support expansion, SEF can clone program configurations from one state to another, significantly reducing setup time when rolling out initiatives in new regions.

Training management

This module enables facilitators to capture multiple data points during training workshops, including attendance, entry tickets (what participants aim to learn), and exit tickets (feedback on the session).

Teachers can submit responses in their preferred regional language through dynamic forms accessed via QR codes. Facilitators can configure predefined question sets, and the system is built to handle thousands of simultaneous responses without performance issues.

A batching algorithm, implemented through automated workflows, groups participants—such as teachers and training observers—based on criteria like location or training needs. This significantly simplifies managing large groups across government schools.

The module is actively used by SEF, SCERT Delhi (State Council of Educational Research and Training), and their strategic partners to streamline planning and execution. At a broader level, it compiles structured inputs into reports that help SEF evaluate program effectiveness and identify areas for improvement at scale.

Student assessment

This module enables assessors to conduct one-on-one evaluations with students. The platform dynamically adjusts questions based on a student's previous responses, using built-in workflows and conditional logic, a process that was entirely manual before.

Beyond accuracy, the system analyzes the types of questions answered correctly, providing deeper diagnostic insights into student learning.

"What previously took two to three weeks to process can now be analyzed and visualized within hours," says Mainak.

Additionally, the system allows recovery of deleted records for up to three months, offering a safeguard against accidental data loss.

Benefits and ROI

By moving their operations onto Zoho Creator, SEF achieved significant improvements in efficiency, data management, and scalability.

All data in one place

With Zoho Creator, all program data is now centralized in a single system, enabling teams to access, analyze, and act on information without manual consolidation.

Improved operational efficiency

Automated workflows and auto-population of fields reduces manual effort while also improving both the speed and quality of data collection from teachers.

Faster reporting

Consolidating data and generating dashboards, a process that previously took two to three weeks, can now be completed within hours.

"For programs running on tight school schedules, this turnaround is a meaningful operational advantage," adds Mainak.

Controlled data access

With multiple stakeholders involved, including SEF teams, government bodies, and external partners, managing data access needed to be both secure and structured. Role-based access controls in Zoho Creator ensure that each user can only view relevant information, maintaining usability without compromising data security.

Looking ahead

SEF aims to work with one million teachers over the next five years. They believe Zoho Creator will continue to serve as a core part of the infrastructure supporting this growth.

In the near term, SEF plans to expand its programs to additional states, using this system to deliver structured and scalable teacher training initiatives. They're also working closely with EdZola to further enhance the platform.

"We're actively exploring AI and machine learning capabilities within the platform," concludes Mainak.