Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Report

Why is in news? The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Report submitted to EAC-PM by IFC released by Dr Bibek Debroy in the India dialog conference

The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy report was released by Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM).

The report was released at #TheIndiaDialog organised by Institute for Competitiveness and US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford University, on February 23 & 24, 2023.

The second edition of the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy highlights the focus on language as a critical foundational skill and its importance in acquiring early literacy.

A special section in the report covers insights into states/UTs to assess children's learning outcomes on the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and Foundational Learning Study (FLS) 2022.

State profiles and their performance on Distance from the Frontier are covered, enabling states/Union Territories to track progress on foundational learning.

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.

FLN is broadly conceptualised as a child’s ability to read basic texts and solve basic maths problems (such as addition and subtraction).

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy is one of the major themes of the NEP 2020.

In 2021, the NIPUN-Bharat programme was launched with a vision to ensure universal literacy and numeracy for Class 3 children by 2026-27.

It envisaged a five-tier implementation mechanism, set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha.

The report’s findings cover the role of nutrition, access to digital technology and language-focused instructional approach.

It is further recommended to undertake various assessments pertaining to the linguistic system (includes phonology, vocabulary/lexicon, and syntax), the orthographic system (includes symbols and mapping principles), and the writing mechanisms and move the focus to improving the periodicity of NAS and the sample size of FLS for assessing the learning outcomes effectively.

And finally, the need for data monitoring at a disaggregated level for FLN outcomes is also required to be integrated into the system, along with clearly defined outcome-based indicators on pedagogical framework and education in India.

About IFC:

Institute for Competitiveness, India is the Indian knot in the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School.

Institute for Competitiveness, India is an international initiative centered in India, dedicated to enlarging and purposeful disseminating of the body of research and knowledge on competition and strategy, as pioneered over the last 25 years by Professor Michael Porter of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School.

Institute for Competitiveness, India conducts & supports indigenous research; offers academic & executive courses; provides advisory services to the Corporate & the Governments and organises events.

The institute studies competition and its implications for company strategy; the competitiveness of nations, regions & cities and thus generate guidelines for businesses and those in governance; and suggests & provides solutions for socio-economic problems.