Lok Sabha Question No. 1964 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-19
Subject: Reassessment of Teaching Methods and Curriculum
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Jagdambika Pal, Behanan Benny, K. Muraleedharan, Vincent H Pala

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1964

ANSWERED ON 19/12/2022

## REASSESSMENT OF TEACHING METHODS AND CURRICULUM

1964.  SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL: SHRI BENNY BEHANAN: SHRI K. MURALEEDHARAN: SHRI VINCENT H. PALA:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the findings of the NCERT survey conducted in March 2022 which revealed that 37 per cent of class third students have limited foundational numeracy skills, and 11 per cent lack basic knowledge and skills;
- (b) if so, the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) the same survey found that 15 per cent of students lacked basic skills in English, and 30 per cent had limited skills, considering this whether the Government intends to reassess the teaching methods and curriculum; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SMT. ANNPURNA DEVI)

- (a) to (d): A large-scale assessment & benchmarking study for foundational learning, Foundational Learning  Study  (FLS)  was  administered  from  23rd-26th  March,  2022  by  NCERT  at  the  national level.  FLS  was  conducted  in  20  different  languages  -  Assamese,  Bengali,  Bodo,  English,  Garo, Gujarati,  Hindi,  Kannada,  Khasi,  Konkani,  Malayalam,  Manipuri,  Marathi,  Mizo,  Nepali,  Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Approximately 86,000 grade 3 students from 10,000 schools were covered. Students were assessed on their understanding of Foundational Literacy and Foundational Numeracy Lakshyas as highlighted in NIPUN Bharat for grade 3.

As  an  important  literacy  skill,  FLS  2022  assessed  'Reading  with  understanding'  skill  of  class  3 students.  Pertaining  to  the  linguistics  differences  in  languages,  benchmarks  have  been  calculated distinctly for each of the 20 languages that aim to interpret the performance of the students in reading with  understanding/comprehension  in  each  of  the  20  languages  separately.  The  benchmarks  for Reading with Understanding for each of the languages can be accessed at https://dsel.education.gov.in/fls\_2022. However, to adjudge the health of education system, National Achievement Survey 2021 (NAS) was conducted on 12 th  November 2021.

The programme to focus on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) has been initiated by the Ministry  of  Education  in  a  mission  mode.  The  FLN  Mission  aims  to  ensure  that  all  the  children achieve  foundational learning standards by the end of grade 3,by the year 2026-27. Under the FLN mission,  the  'National  Initiative  for  Proficiency  in  Reading  with  Understanding  and  Numeracy' (NIPUN- BHARAT) guidelines provide the roadmap for strengthening the domain of foundational learning at the national level.

As post FLS strategy, workshops have been organised to disseminate the findings of the study and to deliberate on the way forward. 'National Workshop on Foundational Learning Study' was organised on  Nov  4,  2022.  This  was  followed  by  an  elaborate  2-day  workshop  on  17-18th  November  2022 wherein the focus was to facilitate reading and appropriate interpretation of the state/UT reports and development  of  the  roadmap  to  plan  the  interventions  for  improvement  of  foundational  learning attainment. Workshops are also conducted at State/District level to disseminate the findings of the study, reading and interpretation of the report and the planning of interventions.

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