1. Girls have shown stronger performance in school-level math assessments in several regions where Akshara Foundation works.
2. While improved maths performance is associated with higher continuation rates into high school and college, this relationship depends on multiple social and economic factors and should not be interpreted as a direct causal link.
3. There is substantial global research demonstrating the economic value of early numeracy. Several studies indicate that even a modest increase in numeracy scores is correlated with nearly 20% higher wages in adulthood. Other research suggests that a half–standard deviation improvement in mathematics and science performance at the individual level can contribute to an estimated 0.87% increase in GDP per capita.
4. This evidence is particularly relevant in the Indian context, where studies show that fewer than 25% of children in elementary school (grades 1–5) can perform grade-level mathematics. This means that more than 100 million children may struggle to progress effectively to secondary school and beyond.

Government schools in India are often viewed as the “last resort,” yet 200 million Indian children study in them, and 75 percent of these schools are located in rural areas. These communities typically have no access to laptops or tablets, experience intermittent power supply, and have limited internet connectivity. Building Blocks has been made accessible to these learners through freely distributed ETBs. BB was specifically designed to run on low-cost, entry-level digital devices to increase accessibility for marginalized populations, many of whom lack a supportive learning environment at home. Its ability to function both offline and online addresses challenges related to inconsistent connectivity.

BB is available in nine Indian vernacular languages to ensure access for rural communities.

As a FREE gamified Math learning app of games for grades 1 to 8, Building Blocks is a social edtech innovation. Its features include:

• Fun, interactive and intuitive to use. 
• Relevant to the child's context - with daily life examples, concepts explained through stories / games.
• Has progress tracker, visual gamification, animation to explain concepts.
• Works on basic entry-level Android smartphones making it affordable on the fastest growing segment in smartphones.  
• Works online and offline.
• Mapped to grade-wise syllabus. 
• Large selection of games in PRACTICE mode (to reinforce concepts taught in class) and also games in CHALLENGE mode (to assess levels of learning) 
• Available in 9 Languages – English, Hindi, Kannada, Odia, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu - covering four-fifths of India’s children studying in vernacular medium schools
• Designed using Open-Source tools and made available using a Creative Commons licensing format. 

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