The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 confronted a national learning crisis: Over five crore elementary students had yet to gain foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) skills. The government acted with purpose — it gave "highest priority to achieving FLN skills by all students by Grade 3" and, in July 2021, launched the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission to make this happen.
The results are visible across India. In Haryana, 67% of Grade 3 students can read more than 30 words per minute; in Madhya Pradesh, 53% can read sentences with over 75% accuracy. These are glimpses of a national tectonic shift.
Five years on, the task is to build on what worked. The most instructive lesson of this period is not that India's children can learn — we never doubted that. It is that India's education system can. FLN is the bedrock for all learning. A Viksit Bharat needs a NIPUN Bharat.
Five key enablers ensured NIPUN's success. First, clear goals and accountability. Grade-level competencies were defined, communicated, and reinforced across the country. Second, better methods and tools. Structured pedagogy —a scientific, evidence-based, learner-centred approach to teaching—equipped every teacher with defined objectives. At its core were teaching learning materials (TLMs): Low-cost, play-based teaching tools.
Third, teacher training and mentoring. Teacher training pivoted away from multi-tier cascades, which were causing learning losses, supported now by standardised videos, decks, and printed handouts. Fourth, monitoring and data systems. Real-time information now shows schools' performance and where to intervene. The fifth enabler, aligned assessments. Assessments are now mapped to learning outcomes, measuring competencies for reading, learning, and arithmetic.
These five enablers institutionalised success in phase one. The next five years call for additional levers.
Third, teacher training and mentoring. Teacher training pivoted away from multi-tier cascades, which were causing learning losses, supported now by standardised videos, decks, and printed handouts. Fourth, monitoring and data systems. Real-time information now shows schools' performance and where to intervene. The fifth enabler, aligned assessments. Assessments are now mapped to learning outcomes, measuring competencies for reading, learning, and arithmetic.
These five enablers institutionalised success in phase one. The next five years call for additional levers.
First, extend foundational learning to Grade 5. Foundational learning does not end at Grade 2, and neither should NIPUN. Extending the programme through grade 5 is essential for cementing FLN skills, compounding gains, and ensuring remediation for those lagging. Despite reaching Grade 5, 56% of students still cannot read a Grade 2 text, and 70% lack basic arithmetic skills, revealing a systemic gap in FLN competencies. PARAKH data confirms that proficiency in reading and arithmetic declines as students progress, making Grades 3–5 a critical priority. Significantly, Grades 3-5 diverge from the early years. At this point, students transition from learning to read to reading to learn. The learning in these years cements the FLN base upon which all higher-order learning, critical reasoning, and educational attainment compound.
For this, adopt a dual-track approach that sustains gains for students at grade level while supporting those who lag entering Grade 3. This means setting at-grade-level competency targets for Grades 3–5, drawn from stage-level competencies and aligned with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and NCERT textbooks. Remedial learning outcomes must focus on competencies two grades below (n–2), and writing competencies follow a one-grade-below (n–1) approach.
Second, anchor the mission in a universal Balvatika. Children who enter Grade 1 without basic FLN competencies rarely catch up by Grade 3, and research suggests 57% of children begin school with low readiness. A nationwide rollout of Balvatika, staffed with dedicated educators, equipped with age-appropriate learning materials, and trained in early childhood pedagogy, is needed.
Third, forge a new teacher compact. Today's mentoring model is residential, cascade-based, and largely one-off. Without a teacher competency framework for Grades 1 to 5, training remains generic. India must move toward a mix of flexible strategies: hybrid courses, self-paced programmes, and approaches aligned with the National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST). The content must reflect real classroom conditions, especially Multi-Grade Multi-Level (MGML) teaching, which characterises nearly 70% of primary schools.
Fourth, professionalise mentoring. Training alone is not enough. NIPUN 2.0 needs a dedicated mentor cadre working under structured school protocols, observing classroom techniques, assessing students directly, and providing teachers with improvement-oriented feedback.
Fifth, overhaul the assessment architecture. Assessments today are complicated, overlapping, and poorly linked across national and state systems. Aligning PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (PRS) and the Foundational Learning Study (FLS) under a shared methodology — adopting the FLS one-to-one design and the EGRA-EGMA standards for Grade 3 PRS — would effectively subsume FLS into PRS and give a more accurate measure of FLN skills across Grades 3–5. A census-based Grade 5 assessment can map FLN fluency from cluster to state level, with a standardised framework making results comparable.
Sixth, make one number public. A single, simple, annually published “NIPUN Index” for each district, showing the share of Grade 3 children reading with comprehension. This would create public accountability that will empower districts.
Seventh, integrating parents into the classroom. Reading gains are lost over holidays and in homes without a print-rich environment. A structured home-learning component must be added, which has simple, parent-facing reading activities, community reading Melas, and SMS or app-based nudges.
Finally, none of this materialises without governance. The National Steering Committee must be reactivated and made consequential, meeting on outcome data and mirrored by empowered committees in every state, district, and block, with time-bound targets tied to fund releases.
Currently, India's learning poverty is around 56%. Without sustained FLN focus in mission mode, it will take around 60 years to drop to 20%. To bend this curve, a 10-year NIPUN extension is essential. It will ensure effective design constitution, administrative adoption, institutional fidelity, and mission-mode implementation to build FLN competencies at every learning level. NIPUN's first phase proved that the system can teach India's children to read and do maths. The task now is to sustain gains and move towards a Viksit Bharat.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Anita Karwal, chairperson, Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority and Ishmeet Singh, CEO, CSF.