Second edition of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) report

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Key highlights of the report-

• The report was released at #TheIndiaDialog organised by Institute for Competitiveness and US-Asia Technology Management Center, Stanford University, on February 23 & 24, 2023.
• It highlights the focus on language as a critical foundational skill and its importance in acquiring early literacy.
• A special section in the report covers insights into states/UTs to assess children’s learning outcomes on the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and Foundational Learning Study (FLS) 2022.
• State profiles and their performance on Distance from the Frontier are covered, enabling states/Union Territories to track progress on foundational learning.
• It captures the role of language in education and focuses on improving the learning outcomes using appropriate assessments and medium of instruction.
• It captures the fundamental concepts children require to become skilled readers and highlights distinct challenges faced in a multilingual environment.
• A section of the report explicitly focuses on the numerous initiatives currently implemented at the national and state level in collaboration with public-private organizations, demonstrating their efforts in achieving foundational learning goals as outlined in NIPUN.
• The report continues to be a benchmark for states and union territories to track their performance relative to their peers in achieving universal foundational learning by 2026-27. 
• West Bengal maintained its lead while Uttar Pradesh stood at the bottom among large state categories on the second edition of the FLN index.
• Among smaller states, Punjab was at the top of the index while Telangana was at the bottom while Puducherry topped the index among union territories while Ladakh was the worst performer.
• Among north-eastern states, Sikkim was at the top while Meghalaya was at the bottom of the index. There are four categories in which regions have been divided, large states, small states union territories and north-east, for indexation.
• As per the report, India’s overall average score was 44.48 and 18 out of 36 state/UTs have scored above country average in FLN index.
• The index has ranked states on five key parameters and 36 indicators. These include educational infrastructure, access to education, basic health, learning outcomes and governance.
• The report’s findings cover the role of nutrition, access to digital technology and language-focused instructional approach. 
• It is further recommended to undertake various assessments pertaining to the linguistic system (includes phonology, vocabulary/lexicon, and syntax), the orthographic system (includes symbols and mapping principles), and the writing mechanisms and move the focus to improving the periodicity of NAS and the sample size of FLS for assessing the learning outcomes effectively. 
• And finally, the need for data monitoring at a disaggregated level for FLN outcomes is also required to be integrated into the system, along with clearly defined outcome-based indicators on pedagogical framework and education in India.

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