For Indian schools to reach developed country standards, emphasis must shift decisively to quality
India has the world’s largest school system: 14 lakh schools, 1 crore teachers and 25 crore students. Despite having roughly the same population and three times India’s land area, China has just over 2,00,000 schools (excluding pre-schools). The difference is not just the number, but their size, resources they bring together, and, ultimately, what this means for learning.
India has largely achieved near-universal access to elementary schooling. But participation falls as they move through the system, particularly at the secondary level. The challenge now is to ensure children learn well and stay on track. NIPUN Bharat (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy), launched in 2021 following NEP 2020’s focus on foundational literacy and numeracy, has brought greater focus to this challenge.