Tamil Nadu has gained international recognition for reforming its government school classrooms into active, child‐centered learning environments. Our exploration of the history of the Activity Based Learning movement suggests that this reform was achieved by social movement actors serving in and through the state's administration. Participants in people's movements and progressive education initiatives partnered with state officers to form an influential network, a “figured world” of counterhegemonic education knowledge, that ultimately transformed classrooms in over 37,000 schools.