Historically, the Indian education system placed greater emphasis on later stages of schooling, including secondary, higher secondary, and higher education. Over time, classroom evidence, assessments, and global learning data have shown that progress in later grades is difficult without strong foundations in the early years. This is critical because early childhood, up to 8 years, shapes cognitive, social, emotional, language, and physical development. (UNICEF)

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) has therefore emerged as a national priority in response to a deep learning poverty challenge. The World Bank defines learning poverty as the inability of a child to read and understand a simple text by age 10. Its India Learning Poverty Brief reports that, according to the latest available pre-COVID data, 56% of children in India at late primary age are not proficient in reading, after adjusting for out-of-school children. This shows that the issue is not only enrollment, but whether schooling translates into learning.