Fundamental Literacy and Numeracy mission target date has been rescheduled to 2026-27

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The Centre has set a new target year under National Education Policy for Fundamental Literacy and numeracy mission on 5th July from 2025 to 2026-27 because COVID has disturbed two academic years.

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What is Fundamental Literacy and Numeracy?

Fundamental Literacy: Fundamental literacy refers to the skills and strategies involved in reading, speaking, writing and interpreting his thoughts.

Numeracy: It is the ability to reason and to apply simple numerical concepts. Basic numeracy skills consist of comprehending fundamental arithmetical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

The present scenario is that various governmental as well as non – governmental surveys, indicate that India are currently in a learning crisis. A large proportion of students currently in elementary school – estimated to be over 5 crore in number have not attained foundational literacy and numeracy i.e. the ability to read and comprehend basic text and the ability to carry out basic addition and subtraction with indian numerals.

NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy )Bharat initiative will be launched as a part of the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy today on 5th July, 2021.

Government announced that ‘NIPUN Bharat will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy and a five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha.’

The aim behind this initiative is to facilitate an environment to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy. This universal access to foundational literacy and numeracy will help every child achieve the sought-after learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27. It will help in upgrading the overall education and literacy levels in the country.

NIPUN Bharat is anticipated to emphasize goal setting and accountability for State governments, and provide guidelines for teacher training, assessment and the creation of printed resources. Samagra Shiksha scheme is the umbrella scheme and NIPUN bharat will be funded under this scheme. There has been 20% decrease in this year allocated budget for Samagra Shiksha scheme.

Central Square Foundation is a non-governmental organization that has provided inputs and technical support to the Centre in the development of this mission with a focus on foundational literacy and numeracy. It is also expected that NIPUN Bharat could suggest a 60-90 day focus on foundational literacy and numeracy before shifting to a regular timetable.