Why Equity Must Drive The Foundational Learning Mission In India

India’s education journey since independence has seen remarkable progress in access to schooling. Anchored by the National Policy on Education (1986) and initiatives like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, our enrolment levels for the 6–14 years age group in rural India had reached above 95% by 2008. Despite this advancement, disparities in children’s learning remain an alarming issue.

Foundational literacy and numeracy skills are considered a ‘gateway’ for all future learning. More than half of India’s children cannot read a simple text by the age of 10 in the face of this crisis. Additional efforts are being made to uplift these results. While we have seen an increase in fund allocation in 112 aspirational districts of India, learning outcomes in linguistically diverse, tribal-dominated districts remain far below their state averages.

The current approach for measuring education progress is generally focused on average performances, making struggling learners invisible. This presents a dual challenge for us because while learning levels are low across the board, the disparities between learning levels within learners of the same grade are high. As a result, even when learning levels seem to be improving overall, at least 25% of all learners would still experience minimal learning throughout the year. We have enough evidence to say that if FLN skills are not acquired at the right time, these children run the risk of falling behind and never catching up.

It is important to note that these disparities do not exist solely because of individual struggles. More often than not, children facing difficulty in reading or performing mathematical operations are a result of systemic inequities. Deeper issues linked to socio-economic status and school-level factors pose compounded challenges that limit children’s participation in classrooms and the learning process.

For instance, a tribal student in Odisha may struggle with concepts taught in school in an unfamiliar language if it doesn’t connect back to his culture or real-life experiences. Similarly, a first-generation learner coming from an urban slum may have to miss school to participate in livelihood activities to support her family. With each passing year, and in the absence of responsive teaching and learning strategies, these students will eventually fall further behind, leading to differences in achievement levels.

International research and evidence clearly illustrate that by supporting and focusing on students with the lowest levels of proficiency, we can see an overall gain in learning outcomes. This is why, at Language and Learning Foundation (LLF), equity is a founding principle, as we believe every child can master foundational skills, given the right learning environment and support.

We focus on two aspects to improve student learning outcomes. First, we work within the government education systems at the state and district levels to improve teaching-learning material and practices in primary schools. We employ a multilingual approach that enables children to begin their learning in their home language and use it as a bridge to learn less familiar languages at school. When children think and express ideas in a language familiar to them, they tend to understand concepts taught in school faster. So far, we’ve seen significant results.

Additionally, we undertake research and generate evidence to advance our understanding of equity. This is not limited to how students are taught but also how they are assessed and how this assessment data is used to inform instruction. For instance, our recent projects like Teacher Professional Development for ETPD4E ask the harder questions like: Which learners are learning the least? What specific barriers exist for their learning? And how can teachers support these students in the classroom? Learnings from these studies then further inform our strategy and future programmes.

NEP 2020 and the NIPUN Bharat Mission have made foundational learning the highest education priority across India. If we are to achieve strong foundational learning for all children, recognising the diverse needs of every child and prioritising equity is the only way forward.

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