NIPUN Bharat Scheme

Why in news?

• Under NIPUN Bharat Scheme, a specialized National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA 3.0) for the foundational literacy and numeracy covering about 25 lakh teachers at the primary level across all states and UTs has been launched in September, 2021.

About NIPUN Bharat Scheme:

• NIPUN stands for National Initiative for Proficiency in reading with Understanding and Numeracy.
•  ‘NIPUN Bharat Mission’ will provide an enabling environment to ensure universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy for every school going child.
• The aim is to ensure that every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing, and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.
• The scheme will be implemented by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the aegis of Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha.

The need for the scheme:

• Foundational learning has been a constant drawback in Indian schools and the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) findings released by education non-profit Pratham has showed for successive years how a bulk of the Indian students pursuing elementary education in schools cannot even read, understand or do basic arithmetic.
• Foundational learning has also been emphasized in the new National Education Policy.

PRELIMS QUESTION

NIPUN Bharat Scheme, recently launched by the government aims to:

(a) Promote universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary classes

(b) Promote Self Help Groups in rural areas

(c) Provide technical assistance to young start-up entrepreneurs

(d) Provide vocational training to tribal students

Answer