Improving students’ reading and numeracy: It takes a village and more

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests that approximately 20 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) points are equivalent to a year of learning. By this metric, India was 12 years behind China in mathematics, science and reading abilities the last time India took the PISA test in 2009. 

At a macro level, the last 15 years have created a large gap between the world’s two largest countries. Between 2010 and 2023, the gross enrolment rate (GER) of students in higher education in China has risen from 26.5% to 60.2%, while India’s comparable GER has stagnated between 25-28% since 2017. 

Low foundational literacy levels in math and reading abilities at a young age and a low enrolment rate in higher education has led to India’s labour productivity being 44% lower than that of China’s.

More importantly, a student’s inability to learn even basic reading, writing and mathematics has led to disillusionment among the students, teachers and parents. 

Also read: How reading subtitles is improving literacy in rural India

This is why 8 out of 10 Indian students who enroll in grade 1 don’t reach grade 8, 25% of teachers don’t even show up to class, and parents are largely not concerned whether their child is learning or not. This has created a vicious cycle.

The problem is not one of spending on education but of the community’s involvement and attitude towards education, which have a disproportionate impact on a child’s learning outcomes.

In Vietnam, World Bank researchers found that as much as half of the country’s score differential on the 2012 and 2015 PISA tests could be explained by community factors like the expectations that parents placed on students and teachers, which led to increased discipline, with the country being among the bottom three globally in terms of per-capita spending on education all through.

When you compare this to India’s School Management Committees (SMCs), the primary modes of community engagement in our public education system, the disparity becomes apparent: 88% of government and government-aided schools have formed SMCs, but headmasters, teachers and especially parents are not fully aware of their existence.

Breaking this vicious cycle requires institutionalizing interventions to change the behaviour of key stakeholders who are part of these communities. This means creating a mechanism to raise the involvement of teachers and parents.

We need to let our teachers teach. According to a study by Samagra, most teachers spend less than 37% of their time in teaching activities, leaving them only 13 hours a week to do it. 

Under such circumstances, teachers move back to the default option of teaching students who they think have learning potential, while ignoring others. To make matters worse, low self-esteem, low levels of autonomy and lack of recognition tend to demotivate them.

We need to make it easier for teachers to effectively teach in the limited time available, while showing them the progress they are making. This involves providing them with the right teaching material as well as tools and integrating technology. 

Also read: Raising funds for education in budget may solve employment issues

A pilot study done by edtech Chimple in Satya Bharti Schools, where teachers were provided with an app that allowed them to assign tasks based on a child’s ability, showed children not only learnt better, but 94% of the teachers agreed that such a model was helpful for students. Technology can also be used to ease the administrative burden of teachers.

Simultaneously, teachers must be given avenues to grow through structured teacher training sessions. Currently, only one-third of teachers report that their in-service training was beneficial largely because these sessions are ad-hoc and do not focus on the core competencies needed for imparting Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).

A framework to recognize top performers can create further impact. Madhya Pradesh has a Classroom Heroes programme that celebrates exemplary teachers and their practices. Such recognition has created increased ownership, value alignment and a renewed sense of vigour in teaching styles.

However, students spend just 20% of their time in a classroom and the rest at home. This not only makes parents critical stakeholders, but also the primary demand-drivers for quality.

Global studies have shown that schools with strong parental engagement are 10 times more likely to improve learning outcomes.

However, there are pitfalls. The socio-economic status (SES) of parents skews their perception of their child’s academic achievements. High SES parents are more likely to believe their child is above average, compared to low SES parents, resulting in children of high SES parents spending over 70 additional minutes each week on educational activities. This creates a large gap in learning outcomes between the two cohorts.

This is coupled with a lack of clarity among parents on the role they play and their feeling under-confident in supporting their child, given their own low literacy levels. Addressing this requires giving contextual information to parents about their child’s performance. 

This can happen either in parent-teacher meetings or through text messages. In the US, providing information on metrics such as child’s absence, missed assignments and low grades led to a reduction in course failures by 27%. Creating involved parents and teachers invariably leads to more involved SMCs.

Also read: It’s a strong foundation of primary education that will take India forward

There are pockets across India and the world which have undergone a significant behavioural change to ensure their children learn. As they say, “It takes a village to educate a child.” But this village comprises teachers, parents and community leaders. 

Finding ways to engage them will bring about the sustainable behavioural change that is needed to make India’s Nipun Bharat Mission, the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy, a success.