NIPUN Bharat Initiative
Recently, the Central Government has launched a new scheme named “Nipun Bharat Initiative” on July 5, 2021.
It will be launched for primary level students to improve numeracy, basic studies and comprehension.
‘Nipun Bharat Mission’
- The full form of NIPUN is “National Initiative for Proficiency in reading with Understanding and Numeracy”.
- The mission will ensure that every child acquires the ability to learn reading, writing and arithmetic by the end of grade three from 2026 to 2027.
- This initiative will be a part of the school education programme, Samagra Shiksha.
Which is the implementing agency?
The ‘NIPUN’ India initiative will be implemented by the Department of School Education, Central Government. To implement this, a 5 tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the national, state, district, block and school levels in all the states and union territories.
Why has this scheme been launched?
The subject of basic education in Indian schools has been showing a very weak position. According to the findings of ‘Asar’ (Annual Status of Education Report), most of the Indian students who have pursued primary education in schools for consecutive years are not able to read basic arithmetic. So this initiative was started to deal with this issue. This scheme is in line with the new education policy.
Conclusion of ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) 2020
- 25% of school going children aged 4 to 8 do not have age-appropriate cognitive and numerical skills. Thus, there is a severe learning deficit in the early stages.
- 4 percent of children under the age of 6 are able to recognize at least one letter.
- 6 percent of children can do addition operations.
- 8 percent of Class II children can read lessons in classes below them.
- 8 percent of Class III students can read texts intended for students two levels below them.
Source – The Hindu
