How Kanika Vizan Is Rebuilding K–12 Education Around Outcomes, Not Rote Learning

In India’s K–12 education system, effort is rarely the problem.

Students study hard. Parents invest heavily. Teachers work long hours.

Yet outcomes remain inconsistent.

Concepts are memorised, not understood.

Marks fluctuate.

Exam anxiety rises.

And learning often fades once the exam is over.

For Kanika Vizan, this wasn’t an abstract policy issue. It was a ground reality she saw every day — and one she decided to fix from the inside.

That decision led to the creation of SaarthiEd (Saarthi Education).

The Problem Hiding Inside Scale

India’s K–12 supplemental education market is vast, but deeply fragmented.

Most affordable coaching institutes optimise for:

• Batch size over learning depth

• Rote completion over conceptual clarity

• Marketing over measurable outcomes

The result is a system where students attend classes regularly but still struggle with:

• Weak fundamentals

• Inconsistent performance

• High exam stress

• Low long-term academic retention

Kanika believed the real gap wasn’t access — it was quality with accountability.

SaarthiEd was built to prove that structured, concept-first, outcome-driven education can be delivered at scale without becoming unaffordable.

Who SaarthiEd Is Built For

SaarthiEd serves:

• Students from Classes 1–12

• Middle-class and upper-middle-class families who value results over hype

These parents are not chasing shortcuts. They want:

• Strong conceptual foundations

• Disciplined learning systems

• Ethical, transparent pricing

• Consistent academic improvement

Beyond individual families, SaarthiEd also addresses a larger systemic issue — the lack of professional standards in K–12 supplemental education.

A Bootstrapped Model That Proved the Pedagogy

One of SaarthiEd’s most important milestones is not expansion — it is validation.

The organisation has:

• 150+ active students

• Consistent year-on-year growth

• ~₹35 lakhs in annual turnover

• Achieved profitability without any external funding

More importantly, it validated demand for concept-first, outcome-driven pedagogy across Classes 1–12, reflected in:

• High student retention

• Repeat enrollments

• Measurable academic improvement

This credibility has also been recognised externally, with awards including:

• Shiksha Padam Samman by All India Principal Association

• Uttarakhand Achievers Award

• Transformational Leadership Award, among others

For a founder-led education model, these recognitions reinforced that the approach works.

The Hardest Battle: Trust in a Noisy Market

Kanika’s biggest challenge was differentiation.

The education market is crowded, price-sensitive, and dominated by institutes promising quick results through familiar rote-based methods. For a bootstrapped founder, scaling while protecting quality was non-negotiable.

Instead of competing on discounts or noise, SaarthiEd chose a quieter path:

• Focus on academic outcomes, not advertisements

• Build a structured curriculum framework

• Maintain direct founder involvement in pedagogy

• Let results drive word-of-mouth growth

This discipline allowed SaarthiEd to grow sustainably — without compromising its core promise.

The Current Constraint: Systems, Not Demand

Today, SaarthiEd’s limitation is not market demand.

The pull exists.

What’s needed next is structured scale:

• Standardised teacher training systems

• Technology integration for consistency

• Brand-led customer acquisition

• Capital and leadership bandwidth

Kanika sees the next phase clearly — transitioning SaarthiEd from a successful single-centre model into a scalable multi-centre or hybrid education brand, without diluting learning quality.

That transition requires mentorship, systemisation, and strategic capital — not a change in philosophy.

Why SaarthiEd’s Journey Matters

SaarthiEd is not trying to out-market the education industry.

It is trying to out-teach it.

Kanika Vizan’s journey represents a different kind of leadership in education:

• Founder-led pedagogy

• Outcomes over optics

• Scale with integrity

In a system overwhelmed by rote learning and shortcuts, SaarthiEd is proving that deep learning, discipline, and ethical growth can coexist.

And that may be the reform India’s K–12 education system has been waiting for.

Founder: Kanika Vizan

Company: SaarthiEd - Saarthi Education

City: Dehradun

Email: saarthed@gmail.com

If you’re a startup founder, educator, or institution building something meaningful and want your story to be featured in our Founder Spotlight, write to us at team@unhu.in

~ Editor

Kshitij Doval