Foundational Learning Survey

Foundational Learning Survey

News: Recently, the nationwide Foundational Learning Survey (FLS) was carried out jointly by the Union Ministry of Education and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

About FLS, what should we know?
• It aims to setup benchmarks for reading with comprehension in 22 Indian languages. It was undertaken in 2022 towards strengthening efforts for foundational literacy and numeracy under the NIPUN Bharat Mission.
• FLS was carried out among 86,000 class III children in 10,000 schools in the country.
• Based on children’s performances, they were placed in four categories - Those who lacked the most basic knowledge and skills, those who have limited knowledge and skills, those who have developed sufficient knowledge and skill and those who have developed superior knowledge.

Key Findings:
• At National level, 11% of students lack the most basic knowledge and skills. 37% of the students have limited knowledge and skills.
• As far as English language is concerned, 15% of students were found to be lacking even basic skills, 30% had limited skills, 21% had sufficient skills and 34% had fairly superior skills.
• Speaking about Hindi language, 21% fell under the worst performing bracket and 32% had limited proficiency.
• While basic Maths and numeracy is concerned the study found that the most basic knowledge and skills in numeracy were either lacking or limited in 48% of class III students. Tamil Nadu (29%) had the maximum number of students who could not complete the most basic grade-level tasks, followed by Jammu and Kashmir (28%), Assam, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat (18%).
• Limited skills with numbers - In total, there were 11 States with more than 50% of students who either lacked or had limited skills with numbers.

What is the basis of findings?
• Findings of the FLS are based on interviews with each individual participant. The sample included state government schools, government-aided schools, private recognized and central government schools.

About NIPUN scheme:
• It is a national mission to enable all children at the end of class 3 to attain foundational skills by the year 2026-2027.
• It aims to cover the learning needs of children in the age group of 3 to 9 years.