Lok Sabha Question No. 949 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-02
Subject: FLN amongst Primary School Students
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.949

ANSWERED ON 02/12/2024

## FLN amongst Primary School Students

949. Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the current status of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Skill (FLN) amongst primarylevel students across the country;
- (b) whether the Government has any monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess the quality of education being provided at primary-level;
- (c)  if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the details of measures taken by the Government to improve the quality of education in primary schools?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (c): To evaluate children's progress and learning competencies, Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education has been implementing a rolling programme of sample based National Achievement Survey (NAS) aimed at classes  III, V, VIII  and  X  with  an  interval  of    three  years.  It  acts  as  an  indicator  of  the  health  of  the education  system,  so  as  to  take  appropriate  steps  for  remedial  actions  at  different  levels. About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools of 720 districts from both rural and urban areas were assessed from Government and Private Schools. Further, National,  State and District report card of NAS 21 demonstrating the performance of students from each type of schools have been released in public domain on 25.05.2022 at http://nas.gov.in.

PARAKH  (Performance  Assessment,  Review,  and  Analysis  of  Knowledge  for Holistic Development) has been setup under National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) by the DoSE&L. It has conducted State Educational Achievement Survey

(SEAS) 2023.  The primary objective of this survey is to evaluate the learning competencies of students in Foundational Literacy, Foundational Numeracy, Language and Mathematics at the  end  of  each  of  the  educational  stages  i.e.  Foundational,  Preparatory,  and  Middle.  The SEAS-23 has included blocks in the sample to cover students to understand the learning gaps at  the  block  level,  a  strategic  shift  from  district.  Approximately  8.4  million  students  and  6 lakh teachers, of 4 lakh schools of 6416 educational blocks were assessed in SEAS-23.

(d)      The  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSE&L)  is  implementing  an integrated centrally sponsored scheme for School Education- Samagra Shiksha since 201819. The scheme of Samagra Shiksha has been aligned with National Education Policy, 2020 with  focus  on  improving  the  quality  of  education  through  various  measures  such  as introduction of new pedagogical and curricular structure (5+3+3+4), Early Childhood Care and Education and Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, among others and covers the entire continuum of Education from 3 years of Balvatika (preschool) to class 12.

A  National  Mission  called  'National  Initiative  for  Proficiency  in  Reading  with Understanding  and  Numeracy  (NIPUN  Bharat)'  has  been  launched  on  5 th July,  2021  for ensuring that every child in the country attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 2. This Mission has been set up under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha- an integrated scheme for School Education.  Under Samagra Shiksha, all 36 States/Union Territories are implementing NIPUN-Bharat Mission.

The National Education Policy (NEP 2020) emphasizes on developing the relevant concepts  and  attaining  requisite  competencies  to  facilitate  optimal  learning  when  children start schooling. Keeping in focus the holistic development, a 3 Months Play Based 'School Preparation  Module  and  Guidelines'  for  Grade  I  named  'Vidya  Pravesh'  was  launched  on 29th July, 2021. The goal of Vidya Pravesh programme is to promote school preparedness in all children coming to Grade- I from diverse backgrounds, to ensure a smooth transition of children  to  Grade-I,  to  provide  play  based,  age  and  developmentally  appropriate  learning experiences in a joyful and stimulating environment leading to holistic development. The 12week  module  contains  developmentally  appropriate  instructions  for  the  children  entering Grade  1  to  bolster  a  child's  pre-literacy,  pre-numeracy,  cognitive  and  social  skills.  All States/UTs are implementing Vidya Pravesh programme.

To improve the Learning Outcomes in Foundational Stage (3 years of Balvatika and Grade  1  &  2),  the  National  Curricular  Framework  for  Foundational  Stage  (NCF-FS)  was released on 20 th October, 2022 providing a structure for the syllabus, Training of Teachers, Learning Teaching Material (LTM), etc. Accordingly, Jaadui Pitara for Balvatika (3 years of preschool)  and  Books  for  Grades  1  &  2  have  been  provided  by  NCERT  for  use  by States/UTs.

Jaadui Pitara -a Collection of learning- teaching material for 3 to 6 years age group has been developed and launched on 20th February, 2023. The Jaadui Pitara is a box having 53  Learning  Teaching  Materials  (LTM)  for  the  foundational  stage.  It  has  toys,  games, puzzles, puppets, posters, flashcards, story cards, play book set for students, and handbooks for teachers.

The e-Jaadui Pitara (e-JP) was launched on 10 th February 2024. The e-JP is an app and website with integration of the latest technology with play-based pedagogy and a way to disseminate  the  learning  of  Jaadui  Pitara  and  transcend  it  beyond  the  four  walls  of  the classroom.

In  order  to  provide  continuous  learning  opportunities  to  the  teachers,  NISHTHA (National  Initiative  for  School  Heads'  and  Teachers'  Holistic  Advancement)  online  was launched using DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) platform in October 2020 to reach out to elementary teachers and its further extension to all level of teachers. It includes multiple approaches for interaction i.e., Text Modules along with videos. All these contents are aligned to the three developmental goals and learning outcomes of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).

To  prepare  an  initial  cadre  of  high  quality  ECCE  Teachers  in  Anganwadis, NISHTHA-ECCE  and  FLN  have  been  launched  in  July,  2022.  It  is  aimed  towards sensitization of master  trainers on  developmentally  appropriate  pedagogy  for  holistic development of children which will contribute for enhancing quality education at Foundational  level.  These  cater  to  both  training  of  Anganwadi  workers  and  preschool teachers.

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