State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India

The State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India Report is a joint report published by the EAC-PM (Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister), Government of India and Institute for Competitiveness.

Foundational Litearcy

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in the policy documents, refers to basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. It is the ability to read and understand a basic text and perform simple mathematical calculations by end of grade 3. This becomes the foundation for all future learning upon which other skills are built. National Education Policy (2020) accords the highest importance to the achievement of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

In the schooling system, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy refers to education of a child between 3-8 years of age. This essentially includes the initial three years of pre school, followed by early primary education up to grade 2, as per the National Education Policy (NEP 2020). However, the NIPUN Bharat guidelines for implementation of NEP talks of four foundational years, namely one year of pre school plus formal schooling up to grade 3.

State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy  2023

The second edition of the foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) report captures the role of language in education and focuses on improving the learning outcomes using appropriate assessments and medium of instruction. It captures the fundamental concepts children require to become skilled readers and highlights distinct challenges faced in a multilingual environment. In this context, it is crucial to understand the need to integrate the medium of instruction and teaching in languages familiar to children. A section of the report explicitly focuses on the numerous initiatives currently implemented at the national and state level in collaboration with public-private organizations, demonstrating their efforts in achieving foundational learning goals as outlined in NIPUN.

According to UNICEF, nearly two-thirds of 10 years old are unable to read and understand a simple text. With the covid pandemic situation, the learning loss worsened, and every child across the world has fallen behind in their learning. Therefore, there is an urgent need to focus on improving the learning outcomes by developing and strategizing appropriate measures.

Overall India’s average score is 44.48. Overall 18 out of 36 State/UTs have scored above country average in FLN index.

To view the complete report, click here.

State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy  2021

The report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India highlights the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child. It further highlights the role of well-planned early interventions like the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN Bharat guidelines, leading to long-term improved learning outcomes.

The report also looks at the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy which is the first step in this direction, establishing an understanding of the overall state of Foundational Learning across children aged below ten years in Indian States and Union territories. The Index includes five pillars comprising of 41 indicators. The five pillars are : Educational Infrastructure, Access to Education, Basic Health, Leaning Outcomes and Governance. India is committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Zero Hunger, Good health and Well being and Access to Education are the significant goals that have been mapped with the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

Key findings :

• The top-scoring regions are Kerala (67.95) and West Bengal (58.95) in Small and Large states, respectively. Lakshadweep (52.69) and Mizoram (51.64) are top-scoring regions in Union Territory and Northeast state category.
• Out of the five pillars, it has been observed that states have performed particularly worse in Governance. More than 50% of the states have scored below the national average, i.e. 28.05, the lowest across all pillars. These pillar-wise analyses will help states assess the state of the budgetary measures and steps needed to improve the status of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth.
• There is a huge gap between Kerala and the rest of the Indian States in the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy scores. This vast variation is observed in the Learning outcomes and Educational Infrastructure, which necessitates immediate attention for the rest of the country.
• This Index can help further develop policy reforms to improve in those areas where the state of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy has scope for improvement.

The challenge of ensuring quality Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for all is daunting, yet not impossible to achieve. This would however require sustained efforts and intention. The need of the hour is to allocate adequate budgetary resources and funds to improve quality education. To ensure success in higher grades, we would need to focus at the right ‘beginning’ through quality preschool education. This would require setting up a two-anganwadi worker model , with one anganwadi worker dedicated to the ‘education’ component, supported by adequate resources and quality training. The obsolete curriculum and textbooks for early grades need to be quickly replaced by quality material based on the Balanced Literacy approach as recommend by the NIPUN Bharat guidelines. Capacitating both teachers and teacher mentors would be extremely critical. The need is also to focus on data driven policy and practice.

To view the complete report, click here.

Source : EAC-PM