The deteriorating state of primary education in India has prompted many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to enter the education sector. However, these ventures are often marked by a host of contextual challenges that NGOs rarely anticipate beforehand. This study explores how a non-state actor can collaborate with the public school system to improve the quality of school education. We investigate this by examining the challenges faced by Alig Society, an NGO supporting government schools in India. Specifically, we focus on the Support a School program run by Alig Society, identifying the challenges encountered and the strategies employed to address them. Our findings reveal several key grassroots-level challenges, including poor quality of learning; disparities between parental expectations and children’s needs; misalignment and disengagement among stakeholders; issues of sustainability and scalability; financial and resource constraints; and concerns related to long-term commitment and survival. To navigate these challenges, Alig Society adopted several strategic measures, such as employing proficient educators, introducing pedagogical innovations, making contextually relevant curriculum, forming educational clubs, and providing support to parents. Drawing on ecological systems theory, this study contributes to the understanding of how such strategies can help non-state actors address contextual challenges at the grassroots level, thereby improving the quality of education in government schools.