First-of-its-kind Study by Education Ministry

Vinod Kakumanu
April 5, 2022, 11:15 a.m.

A ‘foundational learning study’, first of its kind in the world, will be conducted by the MoE (Ministry of Education) at the end of Grade 3 to understand the learning levels of students at the foundational learning stage. The aim of this study is to set up reading benchmarks with comprehension in 22 Indian languages.

The education ministry stated that this study will be conducted by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) from 23 to 26th March, 2022 in the sampled schools of all states and union territories. The ministry expected participation of approximately 10,000 schools and one lakh students. Establishment of a baseline for NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) Bharat Mission, is the objective of this study.

As per the NEP 2020 (National Education Policy), “the ability to read and write, and perform basic operations with numbers, is a necessary foundation and an indispensable prerequisite for all future schooling and lifelong learning”. In order to equip learners with capabilities which make their subsequent learning experiences more meaningful and absorbing, it is necessary to focus on their ‘learning achievement’ in the foundational years. The NIPUN-BHARAT mission provides the roadmap for strengthening the area of foundational learning at the national level.

For establishing benchmarks in reading with comprehension in various Indian languages, the Foundational Learning Study will assess age-appropriate ability to read known and unknown texts accurately at a certain pace with comprehension, along with foundational numeracy skills.