The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister releases the report on State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India

What is the News?

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister(EAC-PM) has released the report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India.

About the Report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy(FLN) in India

Prepared by: Institute for Competitiveness

Purpose: To highlight the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child. 

As part of the report, Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy has also been released.

What is Foundational Literacy and Numeracy(FLN)?

FLN refers to basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Falling behind in the Foundational Learning years which encompass pre-school and elementary education makes children more vulnerable as it negatively impacts their learning outcomes.

About Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

Aim: To establish an understanding of the overall state of Foundational Learning across children aged below ten years in Indian States and Union territories.

Parameters: The Index includes five pillars comprising 41 indicators. The five pillars are Educational Infrastructure, Access to Education, Basic Health, Learning Outcomes and Governance.

Categories: The categories that were considered for rankings are- large states, small states, Union Territories and North East.

Key Findings of the Index

Large States: West Bengal has topped, while Bihar has finished at the bottom.

Small States: Kerala has bagged the top position, while Jharkhand has languished at the bottom.

UTs: Lakshadweep has topped, while Ladakh has featured at the bottom.

North East: Mizoram has topped, while Arunachal Pradesh came last.

Other key Observations of the report

Firstly, some states may serve as role models for others in certain aspects, but they too need to learn from other states while addressing their challenges. For instance, Kerala is the best small state, but it can also learn from Andhra Pradesh, which outperforms Kerala with respect to access to education.

Secondly, more than 50% of the states have performed particularly worse in the Governance pillar. 

Thirdly, the performance of the Large States such as Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar is noticeably below average in access to education. Whereas the North-eastern states have the highest scores in access to education.

Source: This post is based on the article “The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister releases the report on State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India” published in PIB on 16th Dec 2021.