In an elite urban private school, Grade 2 students learn coding, while a Grade 3 student in a government school struggles with reading and basic math. In India’s race to reform education, the most urgent of India’s learning crisis is also the most overlooked: the lack of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in early grades. Despite the launch of ambitious initiatives like the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat, the reality in classrooms across the country suggests a foundational breakdown, one that, if left unaddressed, could compromise the entire structure of learning in the decades ahead.

India’s Learning Crisis — Long in the Making

India nearly achieved Universal Primary Education by 2004, but the first Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report in 2005 showed many children in grades I to VIII could not read or do basic math. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), which encompasses the period from birth to 8 years old, is vital because it capitalizes on a critical time of significant brain development in children. The results from ASER indicate that we are failing in this area, as evidenced by the poor outcomes in primary education.

The COVID-19 pandemic shut schools for months, cutting off continuous learning for millions of children, especially in poor and rural areas. Digital education, while useful for some, worsened inequalities, leaving low-income students behind and early-grade learners disengaged without the in-person, play-based interaction they need.

In 2021, I field-tested a mobile app prototype in Indore designed to connect community volunteers and government teachers with underprivileged children, assess their FLN levels, and provide remedial support. The app included onboarding and registration forms, baseline (ASER) and post-intervention tests, and embedded links to the Diksha FLN teaching portal.

Key takeaways from the pilot programme included:

1. Increased Reliance on Private Tuition: Many economically disadvantaged families turned to private tutoring as public school support weakened, as noted in the ASER 2022 report.

2. Impact of Digital Education: Though seen as a solution for equity, in our test run, we observed that digital learning has hurt ECCE, leaving many children starting primary school already behind.

3. Need for Support and Community Involvement: Improvement needs government-backed community initiatives. Challenges like space and safety call for a structured approach with teachers, Anganwadis, and NGOs, while the “Each One Teach One” spirit can drive real change.

Policy Action Needed

NIPUN Bharat was launched in 2021 to ensure that all children achieve foundational learning by Grade 3 by 2026-27 (this date was revised from 2025). Back in 2017,  the National Assessment Survey (NAS) highlighted low performance levels among Grade 3 students. A Foundation Learning Survey (FLS) was conducted by NCERT in 2022 to establish a baseline for NIPUN.

Since NIPUN’s launch, ASER 2024 reports decade-high gains in basic arithmetic in both government and private schools, though only one-third of students are proficient. Encouragingly, the Department of School Education’s budget is at a record high (up 7%), yet total education spending still falls short of NEP 2020’s 6% of GDP target. Another ray of hope is that surveys like the FLS and ASER renew focus on genuine learning outcomes. They are necessary to shift the focus away from the obsession with “pass-out percentages” in education in a country like India, where efforts to curb mass cheating could lead to a 15% dropout rate.

Way Forward to resolve India’s Learning Crisis

NIPUN Bharat is undoubtedly a step in the right direction, at least on paper. While it may be too early to assess the scheme’s performance fully, several critical gaps remain. One major issue is the sidelining of Anganwadi workers, who are vital to ECCE. Though mentioned in relation to community engagement, their crucial role in easing children’s transition into schools is largely overlooked.

The recent directive from the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to co-locate Anganwadi centers with primary schools introduces significant logistical challenges. In several areas, single-room campuses house both Anganwadis and Grades 1–5, backyards double as kitchens, and toilets often lack doors or reliable water, making a “smooth transition” difficult.

The NIPUN policy document acknowledges the role of Anganwadi workers to facilitate the transition of children into proper schools, yet it does not propose any solutions to improve this situation. Anganwadi workers can play a crucial role in shaping foundational literacy and numeracy through concepts like pre-numeracy and the recognition of colors and shapes. Surprisingly, they are not included as key stakeholders in the ‘Vidhya Pravesh‘ scheme.

Teacher training is another weak point within the NIPUN framework. NIPUN offers training modules for teachers through NISHTHA and DIKSHA. However, teacher training has shifted to an online format. While this may be cost-effective, the actual effectiveness of online training for teachers remains unverified. There is a lack of outcome-based data to evaluate how effective online teacher training is. Institutional monitoring should focus on tangible outcomes rather than merely tracking completion percentages, as highlighted by the DIKSHA portal.

Another critical gap of the NIPUN Bharat scheme is its lack of concrete inclusion of Children with Special Needs (CWSN). While the policy document briefly acknowledges the importance of empathy and sensitivity from teachers and peers towards CWSN, it stops short of outlining any substantive strategies to address their unique learning requirements. This soft, attitudinal approach risks sidelining CWSN from the core objectives of the scheme and reinforces a one-size-fits-all model that fails to uphold the principles of inclusive education.

Lastly, the NIPUN policy rightly emphasizes involving the community, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and civil society organisations (CSOs), but this has often been overlooked despite their active role in supporting schools and improving outcomes. In today’s learning crisis, every educated citizen has a role to play. The principle of “Each One Teach One,” aided by digital platforms, could link citizens, civil society, government schools, and Anganwadi centers. Crucially, digital learning should serve as a supplement, not a replacement, for in-person interaction in the early grades.

Conclusion

Failing at foundational learning has deep consequences. Children who cannot read or do basic math by Grade 3 rarely catch up, and since higher education relies on merit and assessments, India’s learning crisis cascades upward. Reforms at later stages cannot succeed without fixing the early years.

The future of India’s demographic dividend and its social and economic stability depends on what we do today, in its youngest classrooms. If the foundation is right, the future of the nation is bright.

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Prachi Purohit is an alumna of CPPR Academy’s Public Policy Summer Bootcamp 2025 batch. She was mentored by Dr Reetika Syal, Senior Fellow (Governance and Education) at CPPR.

Views expressed by the authors are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR).