Learning to RISE: Building Agency and Gender-Equitable Attitudes among Tribal Adolescents in Chhattisgarh, India

What does it take to build agency and gender-equitable attitudes among adolescents growing up in one of India's most complex and conflict-affected contexts? That is the question at the heart of Girl Rising's RISE programme in Chhattisgarh — and the findings we are presenting this week at CIES 2026.

Chhattisgarh is home to over 40 distinct tribes, accounting for 34% of the state's population. It is a state where literacy in tribal-majority districts can fall as low as 29%, where adolescents report high psychological stress and low resilience, and where early marriage and school dropout remain persistent challenges — particularly for girls. It is also a state where a decades-long Naxalite-Maoist insurgency has deepened structural inequity, making the path to education not just difficult but, for many young people, uncertain.

It is precisely in this context that Girl Rising launched its flagship RISE curriculum — Resilient, Inclusive, Skilled, and Educated — in partnership with Samarpit and the District Education Office, Bilaspur.

What the RISE Programme Looks Like

The RISE curriculum is 28 sessions long, delivered by government school teachers within school hours across 7 Hindi-medium schools. Each session runs for 45 minutes and is built around five interconnected pillars: Social-Emotional Learning, Digital Literacy and AI, Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship, Climate Change, and Gender. The curriculum uses storytelling and play-based activities as its core methodology, anchored by a comic book — Kusum's Adventurous Innings — whose protagonist navigates challenges of gender, climate change, and poverty as she pursues her dream of becoming a cricketer.

Teachers do not enter the classroom unprepared. A two-day training workshop equips 35 government school teachers with participatory techniques and hands-on simulation sessions. Alongside the student curriculum, a tailored Parent Engagement Guide — delivered monthly by trained facilitators — ensures that caregivers are building the same knowledge as their children, creating conditions for intergenerational dialogue at home.

In total, the programme reached 2,000 adolescents, 35 teachers, and 600 parents.

What the Evidence Shows

The evaluation used a mixed-methods approach — baseline and endline quantitative surveys among students and teachers, plus qualitative focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with students, teachers, and parents.

The findings are striking.

Among adolescents, perception of girls' intellectual ability rose from 37% to 83% — with boys showing one of the steepest gains, moving from 11% to 48%. Belief that girls can pursue any profession increased from 73% to 81% overall, and from 35% to 48% among boys. Aspiration to continue education beyond secondary school rose from 80% to 85%, with girls increasing from 84% to 93%. Confidence in using the internet for learning jumped from 51% to 74%, with gains seen across both girls and boys.

Among teachers, all 35 — a full 100%, up from 67% at baseline — clearly distinguished between biological sex and socially constructed gender roles. Teachers' perception of girls' intellectual ability rose from 14% to 91%, and belief in girls' leadership potential from 63% to 91%. Confidence in facilitating inclusive classroom interactions also increased, with 40% to 70% of teachers reporting that girls and boys interact easily during activities.

Adolescents, teachers, and parents unanimously identified storytelling as the most powerful element of the programme. As one teacher reflected, using stories that connect to students' realities created a safe space where young people felt comfortable sharing and reflecting on their own experiences — and revealed something important: students who initially denied the presence of gender inequality were not reflecting its absence, but rather how deeply it had been normalised.

The voices of young people say it most clearly. A girl student shared that after joining the programme she started opening up and sharing her emotions — something she had not been able to do before. A boy student reflected that if he can use a phone or go out freely, his sister should be able to do the same.

Why This Matters Beyond Chhattisgarh

The RISE programme in Chhattisgarh is not just a curriculum — it is a proof of concept for how education in fragile, conflict-affected contexts can serve as a pathway to peace. By building adolescents' skills, confidence, and agency; by shifting teacher attitudes and practice; and by engaging parents as allies, the programme demonstrates how individual-level change can ripple outward into classrooms, families, and communities.

Given the project's strong alignment with India's National Education Policy, the District Education Office is exploring a potential scale-up strategy. In advancing SDG 4 (quality education), SDG 5 (gender equality), and SDG 16 (peace, justice, and strong institutions), the RISE programme in Chhattisgarh shows that where girls learn to rise, communities begin to change.