NIPUN Bharat mission

2021 JUL 17

Preliminary   > Social Justice   >   Education   >   Education

Why in news?

  • The Union education ministry recently launched a scheme to improve foundational reading, numeracy and understanding for early-stage students.

About the 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.
  • NIPUN Bharat will be implemented by the school education department of the Union government and “a five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up across national, state, district, block, and school levels in all states and Union territories”.
  • The new initiative is going to be part of the flagship school education programme, Samagra Shiksha, according to the Union education ministry.

Goals of the mission:

  • The  goals of the Mission are set in the form of Lakshya Soochi or Targets for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.
  • The overall aim is to achieve the desired learning outcomes by the end of grade 3, however, in order to generate greater awareness among the parents, community, volunteers etc.
  • The Laskhyas are based on the learning outcomes developed by the NCERT and international research and ORF studies.
  • For example, a child should be able to read 45to 60 words per minute and atleast 60 words per minute correctly by the end of Grade II and III respectively from an age appropriate unknown text with comprehension and clarity.

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, which was approved in July last year but is yet to be rolled out.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements  regarding NIPUN Bharat mission:
1.It  is aimed at improving the skills of Indian Students in the field of Information Technology.
2.It is implemented by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a)1 only
(b)2 only
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question
 


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