Er. Prabhat Kishore
Foundational learning forms the bedrock of a child’s educational journey and lifelong development. In a rapidly evolving global landscape, it is imperative to measure not only what students know, but also what they are able to do at different stages of their schooling.
Competency-based assessment is the core of meaningful educational reforms. Assessing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) competencies at the early grades is essential for building a strong, equitable and future-ready education system.
The Foundational Learning Study (FLS)-2026 is a significant national initiative in this direction, aligned with the transformative vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the national priority of achieving universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).
NEP 2020 emphasizes universal attainment of foundational skills as a national priority. Regular and competency-based assessment at the end of grade 3 enables us to understand whether children are acquiring the essential reading, writing and numeracy skills necessary for further learning.
Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH) has been established as a constituent unit of NCERT. Foundational Learning Study (FLS) 2026 has been conducted in collaboration with the National Assessment Centre – PARAKH to assess the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) competencies of students at the end of grade 3. The Foundational Learning Study 2022 was conducted as a baseline assessment in Paper-Pen (OMR-based) mode. FLS 2026 has been administered through a tablet-based digital platform, aimed at strengthening data quality, operational efficiency, and timeliness of reporting.
The key objectives of FLS 2026 areas follows:-
(1) Assessment of Foundational Skills – To evaluate children’s literacy and numeracy skills at the foundational stage through developmentally appropriate, one-on-one oral assessments capturing true learning levels beyond surface-level proficiency.
(2) Identifying Learning Gaps- To provide granular diagnostic insights into reading and numeracy, enabling targeted interventions for teachers, schools and education administrators.
(3) Monitoring Progress Over Time- To benchmark results against the FLS 2022 baseline, track improvements in FLN outcomes and measure the effectiveness of initiatives and teaching practices in achieving NEP 2020 goals.
(4) Child-centric and Developmentally Appropriate Assessment – To provide a non-threatening, interactive assessment experience suitable for young learners, minimising cognitive and reading burden while reflecting actual learning levels.
(5) Global Benchmarking with Local Relevance- To align with international frameworks like the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA), contextualized for Indian classrooms and to support comparability with global proficiency standards such as the Global Proficiency Framework for Reading/Mathematics and UNESCO’s AMPL framework.
(6) Support Policy and Planning – To generate actionable evidence for policy formulation, resource allocation, teacher training, curriculum development and early-grade interventions.
(7) Complementing PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan- To focus specifically on foundational skills in the early grades, complementing the system-level, end-of-stage assessments provided by the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 and enabling a holistic understanding of student progress and systemic effectiveness.
Assessment Areas:- The study assessed Grade 3 students in key Foundational Literacy and Foundational Numeracy domains.
“Foundational Literacy” includes- Oral Language Comprehension /Listening comprehension, phonological awareness, decoding letters/words/non-words, reading and comprehension, oral reading fluency (ORF) with comprehension and writing.
“Foundational Numeracy” includes – Number identification, Number discrimination, Number operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division), Word problems (addition, subtraction), Measurements, Fractions, Patterns and Data handling.
Furthermore, contextual information has been collected through structured questionnaires to better understand factors influencing student learning. These include- Schools Questionnaires (SQ), Teacher Questionnaires (TQ) and Pupil Questionnaires (PQ), as applicable.
Internationally recognized technical standards and best practices have been followed in the design, sampling, administration and analysis of FLS – 2026 to ensure reliability, credibility and comparability of results.
The Foundational Learning Study (FLS) – 2026 has been implemented through a clearly defined multi-tier structure to ensure uniformity, transparency and effective coordination across all States and UTs. At the national level, the National Assessment Centre PARAKH under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), functioning under the Ministry of Education, led the study. At the State/UT level, the State Implementing Agency of Samagra Shiksha, SCERTs/SIEs and DIETs provided guidance and oversaw district-level implementations.
For FLS-2026, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi provided technical support for application development and study implementation, especially for the tablet-based digital platform and associated data systems. The Study covered large and diverse sample of over 10000 schools and over 100000 students across 776 districts in 36 States/UTs including Government (Central and State), Government-aided, and Private schools within the sampled framework.
The Foundational Learning Study 2026 has been completed successfully in all States and UTs of the country. Now after analysis, its outcome is awaited, which will help authorities to review learning gaps, teaching practices and policy effectiveness in early grade education across the States/UTs.
(The author is a engineer and academician. He can be reached at [email protected])
