-The Hindu No extra funds, money coming from Samagra Shiksha’s 20% lower budget The Centre’s new mission to ensure that every Class 3 child has foundational literacy and numeracy within five years will be rolled out on Monday. Although the National Education Policy had included a 2025 deadline to achieve the goal, the Centre has pushed back the target date to 2026-27, given that COVID-19 has already disrupted two academic years. The School...
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Not ready for school -Rukmini Banerji
-The Indian Express A reworking of curriculum and activities is urgently needed for the age band from four to eight. ASER 2019 report underlines this While the importance of good early childhood education has been known for a long time, the draft New Education Policy (released in June 2019) links the “severe learning crisis” to what goes on with young children in India. The voluminous policy document points out that close...
More »Shaky building blocks -Shailaja Menon
-Newsclick.in The draft National Education Policy reinforces outdated ideas about the goals of a foundational literacy programme Many children in elementary classrooms across India cannot read and write proficiently, as demonstrated on an annual basis by the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER). This affects other school-based learning, as well as functioning in societies and economies that prize literacy. Capabilities of young children It was heartening, therefore, to see a chapter devoted to “Foundational...
More »Yes, teaching reading is rocket science -Amrita Patwardhan
-The Hindu Business Line Although literacy levels are improving, there’s not enough learning happening. This calls for urgent attention This year, marks the 50th year of International Literacy Day. In 1966, UNESCO declared September 8 as International Literacy Day to “mobilize the international community and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities and societies”. At Independence in 1947, India had a literacy rate of 12 per cent, which stands today...
More »Universal healthcare: the affordable dream -Amartya Sen
-The Guardian Universal healthcare is often presented as an idealistic goal that remains out of reach for all but the richest nations. That's not the case, writes Amartya Sen. Look at what has been achieved in Rwanda, Thailand and Bangladesh Twenty-five hundred years ago, the young Gautama Buddha left his princely home, in the foothills of the Himalayas, in a state of agitation and agony. What was he so distressed about?...
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