Why Many Education Interventions Fail – And How to Fix It
The Hidden Reason Education Interventions Struggle
Every year, millions of dollars are poured into education programs. Scholarships are awarded. Schools are built. Teachers receive training. Yet, in many communities, nothing changes. Attendance fluctuates. Learning outcomes remain weak. Parents pull children out of school despite financial support. Even the best-intentioned interventions struggle to create sustained impact.
For years, I grappled with this question: Why do so many well-funded education programs fail to deliver lasting results? The problem is rarely the lack of resources. It’s not always infrastructure or policy. The issue often runs much deeper, into the very way people perceive education, opportunity, and their own potential.
No matter how much funding goes into schools, if students believe school has no value, they will not take learning seriously. If parents see education as a privilege rather than a necessity, they will still pull their children out of school when financial pressures rise. If teachers feel powerless to make a difference, no amount of training will translate into better classroom outcomes. The real challenge is not just funding education but shifting the mindsets around education.
What We Learned from Working in Slum Communities
After nearly a decade of working in slum communities, I have seen this pattern repeat itself. At Elevate Development Foundation , we initially followed the traditional approach; paying fees, providing educational materials, organising vocational skills training programs. But we soon noticed a troubling trend. Despite financial support, students dropped out. Despite providing school bags, parents sold them off, and sent their kids to school with plastic bags. Despite providing free trainings, youths did not take action on starting their entrepreneurial journey.
So, in 2018, we changed our approach. Instead of starting with funding, we started with mindset. That’s when we developed Metanoia Bootcamp, a program designed to break limiting beliefs and move individuals from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
The Metanoia Bootcamp does not rely on generic motivation or theoretical training. Instead, we bring in speakers who grew up in similar disadvantaged communities and have built lives beyond those limitations. Through storytelling and aspirational coaching, we help youths challenge deeply embedded mental barriers that keep them trapped in cycles of multidimensional poverty. We do not tell them what is possible; We show them, through real stories of transformation, making it impossible for them to ignore the evidence that their future can look different.
How a Shift in Mindset Creates Real Change
I have seen the power of this approach firsthand. I met Jephthah, a youth living in Makoko in 2018. He had mentally capped his education at SS3, as University was never something he considered. Not because he lacked ability, but because he simply did not see it as an option. Then he attended Metanoia Bootcamp. For the first time, he encountered stories of people who had come from a similar background as him and had built something greater. His mental ceiling lifted. He made a decision to go back to school, and with financial support and mentorship from Elevate Development Foundation , he graduated from Tai Solarin University.
Today, he is building an e-commerce platform that supplies fresh fish directly from Makoko, Africa’s largest floating slum. But beyond that, he is now a volunteer with Elevate, helping others break free from the same limiting beliefs that once held him back.
This is not just anecdotal. Research also confirms that shifting mental models changes behavior in tangible ways. The 2015 World Development Report found that individuals in low-income communities often express a deep sense of low psychological agency; the belief that their actions have little influence over their future. Many of them make statements like:
- “We have neither a dream nor an imagination.”
- “We live only for today.”
In 2010, a research team tested whether these mental models could be shifted. They brought video equipment to remote Ethiopian villages and showed randomly selected individuals short documentaries of people from their region who had improved their lives by setting goals, making intentional choices, and persevering through hardship.
Six months later, those who had watched the videos had higher savings, greater investment in their children’s education, and stronger aspirations for the future. A simple one-hour intervention changed long-term decision-making.
The Shift Education Interventions Must Make
If a short documentary can shift mindset and behavior in measurable ways, imagine the impact when education programs intentionally integrate mindset transformation into their design. Too often, interventions treat mindset shifts as an afterthought, something to be addressed if there is time. But without addressing the way people perceive education and opportunity, we will keep investing in programs that do not produce lasting results.
Education interventions must rethink their approach. Before scholarships, before school renovations, before teacher training, there must be a psychological reset. Students, parents, and teachers must see education as a tool for transformation, not just a requirement or an obligation. They must believe in their capacity to learn, grow, and create a future beyond their immediate limitations. This is not about motivation. It is about breaking the mental barriers that keep people from seeing themselves as capable of success.
At Elevate, we have seen firsthand that when people shift how they see themselves, everything changes. A child who believes they are capable of excelling will engage in school differently. A parent who understands the lifelong benefits of education will make sacrifices to keep their child in school. A teacher who sees their work as meaningful will put more effort into ensuring students actually learn.
No intervention can replace the power of belief. Education is not just about access to schools. It is about belief in the power of education.
Here are some key actions for Education Interventions
- Start with mindset shifts before funding, scholarships, or infrastructure. Ensure students, parents, teachers and other stakeholder actually believe in the value of education.
- Use aspirational coaching and leverage storytelling to challenge limiting beliefs and expand possibilities for students.
- Measure mindset shifts alongside traditional education indicators like attendance and academic performance.
- Integrate mindset transformation into program design, making it a core part of the intervention, not just an optional add-on.
If we get this right, education interventions will not only increase access but also transform lives in ways that truly last.
