Access to Education still eludes many

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has released the report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India. The report prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness highlights the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child. It further highlights the role of well-planned early interventions like the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) Bharat guidelines, leading to long-term improved learning outcomes.

Access to quality early childhood education is a fundamental right for all children. Education leads to positive externalities and the quality of education imparted is important especially during the formative years. The present attainments in literacy and numeracy and the variations among states should be the focus for remedial action. This is what the government is embarking upon now with the suggestions of the experts.

A child needs to develop solid Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) skills. 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. In addition to the existing issues pertaining to foundational learning years, the ongoing pandemic has highlighted the importance of technology in overall child's education.

Therefore, focus on the foundational learning is the need of the hour to ensure universal access to quality levels of education for all children in pre-primary and primary classes in India. The Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy is the first step in this direction, establishing an understanding of the overall state of Foundational Learning across children aged below ten years in Indian States and Union territories. The Index includes five pillars comprising 41 indicators.

The five pillars are: Educational Infrastructure, Access to Education, Basic Health, Learning Outcomes and Governance. India is committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Zero Hunger, Good health and Wellbeing and Access to Education are the significant goals that have been mapped with the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

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, while Kerala has the best performance in the small state, it can also learn from some lower-scoring regions, such as Andhra Pradesh (38.5), which outperforms Kerala (36.55) with respect to access to education. States have performed particularly worse in the Governance pillar because over half of the states have a score that is below the national average, i.e., 28.05, the lowest across all pillars.

The issue of Access to Education is one that demands prompt action on the part of the States. The Governments must be willing to emulate the good work in other States. Only then uniform development of the country would be possible. While basic literacy is increasingly available to all, the gulf between the poor and the rich widens as you go up the educational ladder. Only 6 per cent of young people from the bottom fifth of the population attend educational levels above higher secondary in urban India, but that proportion is five times higher, at 31 per cent, for young people from the richest fifth of the population. We should always keep this in mind.