Lok Sabha Question No. 232 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-02
Subject: Declining Learning in Foundational Literacy
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Smt. Pratima Mondal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-232 ANSWERED ON-02/02/2026

## Declining Learning in Foundational Literacy

232. Smt. Pratima Mondal:

Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  despite  repeated  policy  announcements  national  and  international assessments continue to show stagnant or declining learning outcomes in foundational literacy and numeracy, particularly in Government schools, if so, the reasons therefor;
- (b) the details of measurable and independently verified outcomes to demonstrate actual implementation of the NEP, beyond pilot projects and policy circulars;
- (c) whether it is a fact that public expenditure on education has remained below 6 percent of GDP, despite being a long standing national commitment reaffirmed in the National Education policy; and
- (d) if so, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a): National  Education  Policy  (NEP)  2020  gives  the  highest  priority  to  achieving  universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) for all children by Grade II. To achieve this objective, Ministry of Education launched the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat Mission) on 5th July, 2021 to create an enabling ecosystem for early learning across States and Union Territories.

Under the Mission, a range of systemic interventions have been undertaken. These include nationwide implementation of Vidya Pravesh, a three-month school-readiness module for all Grade 1 students;  large-scale  teacher  and  school  head  training  through  NISHTHA  (National  Initiative  for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement)-FLN focusing on activity-based and child-centric pedagogy;  provision  of  play-based  and  digital  learning  resources  such  as  DIKSHA  (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing)- FLN content,  Jaadui Pitara &e-Jaadui Pitara for children in the 3-8 age group, Primers developed in 121 Local Languages for foundational literacy and numeracy in  mother tongue, play-based text books for Grades I and II. Further, guidelines on co-location of Anganwadi  Centres  with  primary  schools,  released  on  5th  September  2025  ensure  convergence between school education and Anganwadis, supporting smoother transition from pre-school to Grade 1.

The Government of India conducts periodic large-scale assessments to measure learning and education outcomes across the country. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) was conducted in 2017 and again in  2021 to  assess  the  learning  levels  of  students  in  Grades  3,  5,  8  and  10  across language, mathematics, environmental studies, science and social science.

PARAKH  (Performance  Assessment,  Review,  and  Analysis  of  Knowledge  for  Holistic Development) is conducted to evaluate the learning competencies of students in Foundational Literacy & Numeracy, Language and Mathematics at the end of each of the educational stages i.e. Foundational, Preparatory and Middle in Grades 3, 6 & 9. PARAKH is conducted once in three years.

The latest PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 was conducted on 4th December, 2024.  The State/UT wise PARAKH 2024 report has been officially released in public domain on 2nd July, 2025. This can be accessed at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en

PARAKH  Rashtriya  Sarvekshan  2024  findings  highlight  a  significant  improvement  in foundational  literacy  and  numeracy  skills  outcomes,  reflecting  the  positive  impact  of  the  NIPUN Bharat Mission as envisioned in NEP 2020. It reflects that the performance of children in Grade 3 in rural school is better than urban schools and government schools have performed better than private schools at foundational stage.

(b): After  the  announcement  of  National  Education  Policy  2020  (NEP  2020),  a  number  of transformative changes have taken place both in school and higher education for its implementation. In  addition  to  initiatives  mentioned  in  part  (a)  above,  a  series  of  significant  initiatives  have  been undertaken in line with the vision of NEP 2020 such as:-

Samagra Shiksha, an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from preschool to class 12 aims for improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes. The structure has been modified from 10+2 to 5+3+3+4 corresponding to Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary stages. The scheme is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG4) and has been fully aligned with the recommendation of the National Education Policy 2020.

PM POSHAN Scheme: Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme has  been  revamped  and  extended  to  cover  students  of  Balvatika  in  addition  to  students  of Classes I-VIII in Government and Government-Aided Schools. In a pivotal move, setting up of School Nutrition Gardens (SNG) are encouraged in all schools and to further strengthen community participation, a special initiative named 'Tithi Bhojan' has been initiated.

The  National  Curriculum  Framework  for  the  Foundational  Stage  (NCF-FS)  was released on 20th October, 2022 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) was released on 23rd August, 2023. Under NCF-SE, the curriculum has been aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, emphasizing the 5+3+3+4 design of schooling. This framework addresses the entire educational journey from the foundational to secondary stages. Textbooks for classes 3 to 8 as per NCF-SE (2023) have been released.

Norms and standards for 4-year integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) has been notified vide gazette notification dated 22.10.2021 by NCTE. From 2023-24 to 2024-25, 64 institutions granted recognition for 4-year integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) with an intake of 6,100.

Vidya  Sameeksha  Kendra  (VSK)  was  launched  on  06.09.2020.  VSK  has  been established centrally at the NCERT, CBSE and all the States/UTs except Kerala.

Holistic Progress Card: The Competency Based Assessment for Holistic Development, the Holistic Progress Card for the Preparatory, Foundational, Middle and Secondary stage have been prepared and shared with all states and UTs. The HPC are available at: https://ncert.nic.in/parakh/hpc.php?ln=en

National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) defines the work of teachers and makes explicit elements of high-quality, effective teaching in 21st century schools that will improve educational outcomes for students. NCTE has developed a guiding document that outlines the competencies that teachers should possess to effectively perform their roles. NPST guiding document released on 9th March 2024 and is now available in 22 Indian Scheduled languages and Braille Version & Audio format.

National  Mission  for  Mentoring  (NMM)  is  about  the  creation  of  a  large  pool  of outstanding professionals willing to provide mentoring to school teachers. The 'Bluebook on NMM' was released on 9th March 2024 and is now available in 22 Indian Scheduled languages and Braille Version & Audio format.

Under PM e-VIDYA, DIKSHA is the one nation, one digital education infrastructure. All  states/UTs  have  been  onboarded  in  DIKSHA.  This  digital  infrastructure  is  artificial intelligence based and is highly scalable. This infrastructure is also being utilized for creating Energized Textbooks (ETBs) and presently 7,497 ETBs are published on DIKSHA. There are total of 3,74,460 e-contents available on DIKSHA and eContent available in 135 languages (128 Indian + 7 Foreign Languages).

DTH Channels of SWAYAM PRABHA have been expanded to 200 channels for School Education, meant to support and reach those who do not have access to the internet with a total of 1,04,737 Video Contents equals 31034 hours of telecast received from States/UTs/ABs in 45 languages.

National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR) was launched on 29th July 2021 with a vision to create a unifying national digital infrastructure to energize and catalyse the education ecosystem.

Automated  Permanent Academic Account  Registry  (APAAR)  ID  - Aadhaar  linked unique lifelong digital identity for school enrolled learners. More than 15.33 crore APAAR ID generated through the parent/guardian consent and subsequent Aadhaar verification, ensuring accountability and transparency in the registry.

Vidyanjali is a school volunteer management program to strengthen Government and Government  aided  schools  through  community  and  private  sector  involvement  across  the country.  From  its  inception  on  07.09.2021  8,41,355  Govt.  and  Govt  aided  schools  have onboarded 5,59,635 volunteers and 2,591 CSR/NGOs.

PM Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) scheme was launched on 7th September 2022 with  an  aim  to  develop  more  than  14500  selected  schools  as  exemplar  schools  that  offers leadership to other schools in the neighbourhood, showcasing all the initiatives of NEP 2020.

ULLAS (Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme  on  Adult  Education,  aligns  with  NEP  2020  and  aims  to  provide  educational opportunities to the non-literates of aged 15 years and above. A dedicated Mobile App was launched on 29.07.2023 for registering learners and volunteer teachers and also enable teaching learning process by providing access to primers available in 27 languages. More than 3.13 crore Learners and 46.95 lakh Volunteer Teachers (VTs) have been registered. Till date, 6 States/UTs, i.e.  Ladakh, Goa, Mizoram, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have been declared 'Fully Literate'.

District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) have been developed as centres of excellence for strengthening teacher training.

(c&d): Education  is  in  the  Concurrent  list,  and  majority  of  educational  institutions  are  under  the management of States/UTs. The expenditure incurred by the Central Government is about 25% of total government spending on education. At Centre, in addition to the expenditure on education by the M/o Education, the spending of other Ministries/Department on education related activities like training, research, and development etc. also forms parts of the total expenditure on education. Similarly, at State/UT  level,  the  expenditure  incurred  by  the  D/o  Education  as  well  as  spending  of  other Departments on education related activities forms the total spending on education at the State/UT level. National  Education  Policy  2020  (NEP  2020)  unequivocally  endorses  and  envisions  a  substantial increase in public investment in education by both the Central Government and all State Governments to reach 6% of GDP. As far as Ministry of Education is concerned, there has been increase in budget allocation from Rs. 93,224.31 crore (2021-22) to Rs. 1,28,650.05 (2025-26), which is around 38 % increase. As per latest 'Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure on Education 2019-20 to 2021-22' , total expenditure on education (including all Central Ministries and all States/UTs) as percentage of GDP stands at 4.12% (for the year 2021-22).

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