In the evolving landscape of education, the bedrock of a child’s academic journey lies in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN). These early skills not only determine future academic success but also shape a child’s ability to navigate the world. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 sheds light on the current state of FLN in India, highlighting both progress and areas needing attention.

📚 Why FLN Matters

Foundational literacy encompasses the ability to read and comprehend text, while numeracy involves understanding and applying basic mathematical concepts. These skills are crucial as they form the basis for more complex learning in subjects like science, social studies, and technology. Without a strong FLN foundation, students often struggle with higher-order thinking and problem-solving, leading to long-term academic challenges.

📊 Key Findings from ASER 2024

The ASER 2024 report provides a comprehensive overview of FLN levels across rural India, focusing on children aged 6 to 14 years. The findings indicate a positive trend in both literacy and numeracy, signaling a recovery from the setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reading Skills

• Class 3: The percentage of students in government schools who can read a Class 2-level text increased from 16.3% in 2022 to 23.4% in 2024.
  
• Class 5: Students reading at least a Class 2-level text rose from 42.8% in 2022 to 48.8% in 2024.
  
• Class 8: Reading ability improved slightly from 66.2% in 2022 to 67.5% in 2024.
  

Arithmetic Skills

• Class 3: The ability to solve basic subtraction problems increased from 25.9% in 2022 to 33.7% in 2024.
  
• Class 5: The percentage of students who can perform division rose from 25.6% in 2022 to 30.7% in 2024.
  
• Class 8: Arithmetic proficiency showed a marginal increase from 44.1% in 2018 to 45.8% in 2024.

🏫 Government Schools Leading the Way

Notably, government schools have demonstrated significant strides in enhancing FLN. For instance, Uttar Pradesh saw a remarkable 15 percentage point increase in Class 3 reading levels, from 12.3% in 2018 to 27.9% in 2024. This improvement is attributed to targeted interventions under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasizes FLN as a national priority.

🌱 The Role of Early Childhood Education

ASER 2024 also highlights the importance of early childhood education in laying the groundwork for FLN. Enrollment in pre-primary institutions for children aged 3 to 5 years has steadily increased, reaching 77.4% in 2024. Early exposure to structured learning environments fosters cognitive development and prepares children for formal schooling.

⚠️ Areas Requiring Attention

Despite the progress, challenges remain. A significant proportion of students still struggle with basic FLN skills. For example, 76% of Class 3 students, 55.2% of Class 5 students, and 32.5% of Class 8 students cannot read a Class 2-level text. These gaps underscore the need for sustained efforts and resources to ensure that every child acquires essential literacy and numeracy skills.

🔍 Looking Ahead

To enhance Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, a multi-pronged, inclusive, and sustained approach is necessary. Here are key strategies that can be adopted at various levels — from policy to classroom — to improve FLN outcomes:

1. Early Childhood Education (ECE) Investment

• Strengthen Anganwadi centers and pre-schools by integrating play-based and language-rich activities.
• Train ECE teachers in age-appropriate pedagogies that promote early language and math skills.
• Encourage parental involvement at the early stages to build a literacy-rich home environment.

2. Teacher Training and Support

• Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for teachers on FLN-focused pedagogy, classroom management, and inclusive education practices.
• Use of formative assessments to tailor teaching based on student needs.
• Create peer-learning communities for teachers to share best practices and resources.

3. Use of Technology and Learning Aids

• Deploy low-cost edtech tools (such as DIKSHA, ePathshala) that support foundational learning, especially in local languages.
• Provide interactive and engaging learning materials — storybooks, manipulatives, number games, flashcards.
• Monitor learning progress through digital dashboards to inform policy and interventions.
  

4. Parental and Community Involvement

• Conduct literacy and numeracy awareness campaigns for parents to understand their role.
• Organize community reading sessions or math clubs to engage children beyond school hours.
• Encourage local volunteers and youth to support remedial learning efforts in villages and urban slums.
  

5. Data-Driven Governance and Monitoring

• Regular learning assessments at the school and district level such as ASER or NAS to monitor progress.
• Use of data analytics to identify learning gaps and allocate resources efficiently.

Set measurable FLN goals at the school, block, and state levels with accountability mechanisms.

The Assam government has taken progressive steps towards implementing the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) that aims to bring out holistic qualitative improvements in academic education. By 2022, the state hopes to implement 75 percent of the guidelines outlined NEP 2020, with total compliance to be achieved by 2023.

The government has already directed schools and colleges to merge the State Education Board of Assam (SEBA) and the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council by next year. More than 1000 high schools will be converted into higher secondary schools under the first phase of reforms announced by the government, which has also decided to merge lower primary and middle levels of education to prevent students from dropping out.

The policy aims primarily to bridge the gap between enrollment, attendance, and quality of education in formal schooling. It also aims to improve basic literacy, enhance uptake of non-formal education, and promote both equivalence and equity in learning outcomes for all children regardless of the types of schools they are enrolled in. 

Square Panda’s foundational learning programs and educator empowerment programs perfectly align with the NEP 2020’s vision, and the efforts of the Assam government to improve education outcomes. Let’s have a look at some of them:

Formative Assessment

Currently, no conclusive data is available in India for elementary and middle schools to assess learning levels at crucial transition points, such as those from primary to middle school and then to senior grades. Without such information, teachers cannot identify students who fall behind, leading to learning gaps later in life.

NEP 2020 focuses on regular formative assessment rather than summative assessment and how it is essential as a foundational principle of the curriculum. Additionally, the policy mentions assessments as one of its foundational principles that encourage practical learning strategies.

Square Panda India offers programs that provide a formative assessment of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress using various methods, including quizzes, conversations, and activities. Our programs have integrated assessment tools that allow educators and parents insight into each child’s learning process. It tracks progress with detailed graphs, task completion logs, real-time assessments, and sophisticated personalization algorithms based on the individual student’s profile. It also gives a complete report on each skill in an easy-to-read format.

Developing New-Age Methodologies Of Teaching

NEP 2020 describes a whole new way of teaching beyond rote learning. Instead, it emphasises experiential learning via gamification and apps. It’s more than just memorizing textbooks – it encourages holistic learning using the web to discover new things every day. 

We believe that education should be an experience that goes beyond the classroom. By incorporating new-age skills into our existing teaching framework, we provide young learners with a fun and exciting environment to explore their cognitive, social, and emotional potential. Our mission is to create future innovators ready for the globalized world through holistic learning, and we aim for them to realize their potential by equipping them with the requisite skill sets. Our programs are made to suit practically any demographic and have been carefully curated based on years of research, client feedback, interactions with kids & parents, and formal training.

Inclusivity and equality

NEP 2020 aims to provide equitable access to education for all types of learners, across social strata, demographics, and geographies. It is primarily focusing on delivering early education for all in order to tackle the learning crisis. 

We believe that inclusive classrooms where students with diverse learning needs and backgrounds interact can help eradicate systemic inequalities. At Square Panda, we focus on delivering multisensory and inclusive foundational learning programs to meet teachers’ diverse teaching needs. Our adaptive platform uses AI to personalize lesson plans to individual learners based on the requirements of each student, thus delivering curricula tailored to their specific needs or knowledge state.

Placing an emphasis on world-class technology, modern teaching pedagogies, and future-ready curriculum is the need of the hour. Our programs are designed to help educators understand how children learn, thus giving them the necessary insights needed to teach children effectively. In addition to this unique curriculum, educators will also have access to professional development courses, which will provide them with a complete understanding of English pronunciation, grammar, reading comprehension, filing skills, and writing proficiency. 

With NEP 2020’s policy principles and Square Panda India’s array of programs founded in scientific principles of the 21^st century, we believe its implementation can equip educators with vital skills and concepts, and help them effectively share their wisdom with eager young minds. In doing so, we can leverage strong curriculum and state-of-the-art resources to reimagine education across all levels, and in doing so create a brighter future for the nation.

To know more about our programs, please visit https://ecce.squarepanda.in/ or email us at marketing@squarepanda.in

Foundational Learning is an essential building block for the future knowledge we are yet to attain, for it provides the essential fundamentals of reading, writing, vocabulary, mathematics and literacy skills needed by school-aged children. If children fall behind in the early years of schooling, they are likely to underperform and fail to achieve their full potential. 

In India, many children do not have access to a preschool or childcare program, and there are very few pre-primary schools that focus on the needs of very young children. To ensure all children are on the same playing field with respect to learning, it is crucial to prioritize education during these early years.

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) released a report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in India, highlighting the importance of FLN in the Indian context. The report establishes a composite index on the five key domains that govern the learning environment for children aged below ten across 41 indicators. These domains include:

1. Education infrastructure 
2. Access to education 
3. Basic health 
4. Learning outcomes, and 
5. Governance. 

The methodology adopted to assign the weight in the index is Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

The study indicates that some states lagged behind in the Governance pillar, with over half of the states scored below the national average—the lowest across all pillars. This data helps states assess their budgetary measures and identify any gaps hampering progress in education.

Following are some key takeaways from the report:

• Kerala leads the pack as the top-scoring region among smaller states, with a score of 67.95
• West Bengal is the top-scoring region among large states, with a score of 58.95. 
• Lakshadweep is the leading Union Territory with a score of 52.69, while Mizoram is the highest ranked state in the Northeast state category, with 51.64%. 
• Some states score higher than others on the issue of access to education. Rajasthan and Gujarat score 25.67 and 22.28, respectively, whereas Bihar scores 18.23%. By contrast, the northeastern states as a whole do significantly better in terms of access to education. The states in this region average 51.3%.
• The educational standards in Kerala are vastly different from the rest of the country. This significant variation has been noticed in the learning outcomes and educational infrastructure, which needs immediate attention from all the states. There is a marked difference in the percentage of literacy in various states. The highest literacy rate was recorded in Kerala, with 96.2%. The lowest was registered in Rajasthan, with 69.7%.
• The findings in the report reveal a literacy gap between males and females. While the national literacy rate for males is 84.7%, the literacy rate for females is only 70.3%.
• Although all states can gain critical insights from high performers, they can also learn from each other, even if some are lower performers. Finding out what is working in other states when addressing challenges might be a helpful starting point. 

Speaking at the report’s release, Dr. Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM, said, “Education leads to positive externalities, and the quality of education imparted is essential, especially during the formative years. The present attainments in literacy and numeracy and the variations among states should be the focus for remedial action.”

Offering his perspective, Square Panda India MD Ashish Jhalani had this to say: “Right education, accessibility to resources, teacher-child relationship and lastly educational infrastructure especially in rural areas are the key areas which our country needs to focus on. Expansion of technology in education will not replace teachers but enhance the solutions for children in the existing education system.”

The report, co-authored by Square Panda India MD Ashish Jhalani, presents evidence of factors contributing to India’s low learning outcomes in early grades and offers pathways for improvements. 

To read the full report, click here: https://competitiveness.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Report_on_state_of_foundational_learning_and_numeracy_web_version.pdf 

Square Panda India has been at the forefront of research in education technology and is now leveraging that to deliver high-quality early learning products to preschool children across India. With our research in pedagogy, we have configured our content and blended it with an interactive digital platform to be specific to the Indian content standards and benchmarks highlighted by the National Education Policy. As kids become increasingly tech-savvy, it’s essential to develop them as critical and creative thinkers at an early age so that they can meet the demands of today’s fast-paced world.

To know more about our work across the education ecosystem, visit https://ecce.squarepanda.in/ 

Well before infants can understand any words, for example, they find speech interesting to listen to, and prefer it to other kinds of sounds (Shultz & Vouloumanos, 2010).

Phonics, at its very core, is the method applied to teach people how to read and write an alphabetic language using sounds. 

Phonics has been around for a long time, and is one of the most recommended methods of teaching in schools, especially in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). In fact, American President Benjamin Franklin even attempted to create his own alphabet to replace the existing one.

This article answers the most common questions about phonics and related terms, its use in Indian schools, and how it can be used in the classroom.

What does the term ‘phonics’ actually mean?

Phonics helps teachers and educators develop reading skills in children by linking sounds in a language to the letters and words that represent them. Phonics instruction has a profound impact on young learners’ brains and studies have even shown its effectiveness over other teaching methods.

What are some common terms related to phonics?

Phonological Awareness: This is the awareness of the sound structure of any language. Children can recognise and work with any sound of the spoken language once they develop phonological awareness. For e.g., they can pick out words that rhyme, break up a sentence into words, and more.

Phonemic Awareness: This is the ability to notice and work with individual sounds (or phonemes) in spoken language. For e.g., blending sounds to make words, breaking up words into individual sounds, and more.

Why is phonics so important in early childhood?

Sounding out words becomes easier: Phonics breaks down words into components, helping children ‘read’. Over time, they can even recognise patterns in words and automatically learn to read them correctly.

Links sounds and letters: As the phonics method uses sounds to link to respective letters or letter groups, children know exactly which sound should be produced for each letter or letter group, making the reading process simpler.

Long words become easier to read: Unlike when children learn a language via complete words, phonics breaks down longer words into individual sounds. Young children eventually learn to break down (and read) any long word into sounds even if they do not understand its meaning.

Children gain secondary skills: While phonics primarily aims to develop the reading skill, children also simultaneously learn to think logically (as they read words they don’t understand), and pick up writing skills (during spelling-related phonics exercises).

Why must we ‘teach’ sounds?

Even as children automatically pick up sounds since birth, they are not completely equipped to process the information on their own. For example, children would not automatically know that ‘MAT’ and ‘MAP’ begin with the same sound, or that ‘PAN’ and ‘DAD’ have the same sound of ‘a’. This suggests that children need to know how sounds map to a written system, and for this, they need explicit phonics instruction.

Why not simply teach children to read? Won’t that help them map sounds to written words? 

Being read to is another crucial aspect of foundational learning, but it cannot replace phonics instruction. A study by Evans & Saint-Aubin in 2005 showed that as children were being read to from a storybook, they spent much longer looking at pictures than reading the words or text. It is not realistic to expect young children to learn much about mapping sounds and written words simply from being read to.

How does phonics work in Indian languages?

Most Indian languages are ‘pure phonic languages’, i.e., the word sounds exactly like it is written. Plus, every sound has a specific written representation which does not change. For example, Hindi and Marathi use a Devanagari script, and the sound of each alphabet in this language is distinctly different. अ remains the same pronunciation, whether the word is अनार or अक्षर.

While only a small percentage of Indian schools focus on phonics and related activities at present, this method of instruction has been highly recommended for ECCE in the recently released NIPUN document and the National Education Policy (or NEP 2020), for all languages.

Can phonics be included as a small part of each lesson?

Sounds are already a part of every lesson, and there are quick tricks educators and teachers can use to leverage this for a revision lesson. For example, after a story session, children can count the syllables in each word, they can rhyme with numbers (one-sun), and even simply sound out letters they have learnt previously.

Can parents also help with phonics instruction?

The home environment is crucial to develop holistic foundational skills, say experts. The role of parents in fostering their children’s development is twofold: they introduce children to sound, and play a crucial part in reinforcing teachers’ instructions. Parents can be given a list of words and stories introduced in school, which they can repeat with the children during daily chores and activities. Parents can also ask questions about further letter sound knowledge, like ‘What is the beginning sound of this word?’ or ‘What is the last letter in this word, and what sound does it make?’ Parents unfamiliar with the language can listen to songs and rhymes in the language of instruction with their children, and encourage their little ones to sing along.

What sort of activities can help children develop phonemic awareness? 

Simple letter identification activities can be turned into phonic games, by asking children to also sound out the letter. In the same way, sorting activities can be grouped as per rhymes, syllables, beginning sounds, and more. You can even group children in pairs for a ‘partner reading’ exercise, where one child reads a small text and the other closely copies the first. They can then switch roles, helping each other when they stumble.

Learn how to turn even the simplest of items into a learning resource for phonics and language development in next week’s Square Panda Thursday’s webinar. Join the live session on July 29, at 5 pm: https://squarepanda.app.link/e/2907b

Phonics teaches children to be fluent in a language while reading. To be more efficient, this instruction needs to work hand-in-hand with vocabulary instruction and other types of learning for a well-rounded development. From an educational perspective, being able to predict the pronunciation of words using letter-sound knowledge is better than rote learning the pronunciation of all words.

With what do you equate early childhood education? 

Most people would likely relate this term with academics. While the primary focus of ECCE has always been academics, this is but one component that makes up the whole. Research tells us that social and emotional development is as deeply woven into the fabric of early education as academics. For example, a 2015 study by Jones, Greenberg, & Crowley linked higher social emotional skills in kindergarten with important outcomes like education, career, and social success by the age of 25.

Comprehensive programs that enhance foundational learning and include a component of socio-emotional skill development are perfectly geared towards delivering the best results for young learners.

Defining Social And Emotional Development

A child is considered to be developing socially and emotionally when they start to understand who they are, what they are feeling, and how to interact with others. They are able to:

• Forge and sustain positive relationships
• Experience, manage, and express emotions
• Explore and engage with those in their environment

Technology And Social Emotional Skills

While there is research about the usage of technology while developing socio-emotional skills, this does not take into account the scope of edutech as we know it today. Companies that provide digital learning tools for their young learners are more concerned with holistically empowering their audience. Their research takes into account each developmental domain and is increasingly focused on providing the best overall foundation for learning, with a special curriculum for developing social emotional skills.

When children work together on computers or other types of technology, they learn to negotiate and take turns. Conflicts may arise while working together, and young children will need to solve problems. Technology is very prevalent in young children’s lives. Some advocates state that, since this is true, children should begin using technology at an early age, when they are motivated and fearless to learn.
(McCarrick & Xiaoming, 2007)

Supporting Social And Emotional Development In Early Learning Centres

A 2014 UNICEF Study put enrollment in preschools at around 70%. Of these, about 36 million children (3 to 6 years of age) were enrolled in Anganwadis (Ministry of Women & Child Development 2015). Anganwadis, part of the ICDS scheme, form only a part of the early learning settings children are exposed to; the rest involve public and private learning centres with enrollment skewing towards private schooling centres. This makes professional caregivers who care for and teach young children the most important partners in supporting their social and emotional development and building their readiness for school.

High-quality education is critical to maintaining positive socio-emotional development. Not only does a quality education promote active learning and engagement in children, it also mitigates the effects of other risk factors and builds resilience in children. This is partly due to the positive relationships young children form with their caregivers in a high-quality learning centre. Read our thoughts on quality in early education. When children perceive at least one supportive adult in their life, they are less likely to experience the effects of an adverse experience, and be more socio-emotionally developed individuals.

Well-trained early care and education professionals are critical to the creation of such quality learning centres, and to supporting the social and emotional development of their charges. Their expertise enables them to weave social and emotional skill-building into daily activities, routines, and even their own behaviour. They know to implement targeted curriculum with games, stories, and activities.

Supporting Social Emotional Learning At A Higher Level

Leaders and policymakers play a higher role in fostering and promoting positive environments across learning centres. These typically involve strategies, policies, or structures related to the teaching-learning climate and support services, like establishing a team to administer structural changes in working environments and developing clear guidelines for adult behaviour in learning centres.

8 Activities To Build Social And Emotional Skills

*note: these suggestions can be repurposed for at-home learning, by parents and other educators.

1. Build A ‘Feeling Box’: Help children put their feelings into words by labelling emotions in this little ‘feeling box’. Make your own feeling box, and model for children how to communicate their emotions to others.
2. Move To Music: Pick easy songs with lyrics and beats that encourage movement, like Square Panda’s letter-dance song. Make the motions with children as the song plays. Point out how good their dancing is getting, and credit their listening skills for it.
3. Play Board Games: Board games (specially those requiring teams) increase emotional intelligence by teaching children to take turns, think ahead, be a good sport about losing, and learn that actions have consequences. Here’s a fun little board game created for your little ones especially by Square Panda India, to get you started. 
4. Make A Share Box: A study from Duke and Penn State followed over 750 people for 20 years and found those who were able to share and help other children in kindergarten were more likely to graduate from high school. Teach children that sharing is caring (and fun); decorate a box and fill it with things children choose to share with their friends/family, like playdough, crayons, music boxes, soft toys, and more.
5. Use Hand Puppets: You can get these online (see the one Ms. Sonia Relia uses during our Square Panda Thursdays sessions), or ask children to make their own, using random picture cutouts glued to a popsicle stick. These help in acting out stories and exhibiting various emotions.
6. Read Stories: Use stories to talk to children about different social situations. Reading and playacting stories aloud (using hand puppets as props) provides a great opportunity to discuss the connection between behaviour and emotions. For example, “The panda is running fast! He seems scared.”
7. Sing Songs: Take children through the gamut of emotions while singing songs like ‘If You’re Happy And You Know It‘, or ‘Looking In The Mirror’. The wordsmith in you can even come up with lyrics to the tune of popular songs, which talk about sharing, being kind, and other social messages.
8. Use Daily Activities To Develop Social Skills: Activities like snack time, digital time, and recess can be used to develop social skills like taking turns, sitting together, and engaging in conversation. This helps children build positive peer relationships and foster healthy social and emotional development early on.

Key Points To Remember While Developing Social Emotional Skills

• Children Learn By Watching: All children automatically mimic the behaviour of those closest to them, which in many cases are adults. Let them see you model appropriate behaviour and exhibit patience, kindness, and helpfulness throughout the day. Explain what is appropriate behaviour and what is not, and make sure you recognise their positive behaviour and praise it.
• Diversity Plays A Major Part: India’s multicultural heritage translates into a diverse classroom full of children with unique sets of experiences, abilities, and learning needs. Such diversity also brings rich cultural and linguistic differences. Being aware of and adapting to each child’s specific needs can be the difference between a socially aware and competent future citizen or one unable to cope in challenging situations. In classrooms, for example, teachers can encourage expression in the language children are comfortable with, and assign ‘helper buddies’ to children who are struggling socially.
• Connecting With Parents Is Important Too: Establishing a link with parents and caregivers of children is extremely important for success in a school setting. Increased parental engagement, and an awareness of the importance of social emotional development helps children, particularly those struggling with behavioural problems. Schools can figure ways to reach out to the parents regularly, and encourage them to visit or volunteer in the classroom.
• Maintaining A Daily Routine Is Critical To Social Emotional Development: In any setting, adults need to stick to a regular routine each day so children can predict what comes next. This helps them feel safe and in control. In case of any adjustments to the schedule, make sure they know changes are coming, so they are well-prepared for it.
• Encourage Early Friendships: Young children often play next to each other rather than with each other. This has only increased with online learning. What educators now notice, is that children are beginning to show empathy to peer problems even online, giving rise to early friendships. Encouraging more interaction between groups of children, assigning buddies, and drawing out quieter children are some more ways to increase positive peer relationships from an early age.

Early childhood is a critical period to develop social emotional skills. The quality of experiences in this stage can have a lifelong impact on children. Adults are mainly responsible for developing strong socio-emotional skills in early childhood. The early learning programs that prioritise children’s social and emotional health are rewarded by highly engaged little learners who express and use emotion in productive ways.

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Early Childhood Care and Development or ECCE. 

This term has gained much attention across India, a country that has long since taken strides to bolster early development with world-famous schemes like the ICDS scheme, and more. The NEP 2020’s focus on bringing early childhood education into the formal schooling framework serves to support such schemes, and revive interest in ECCE. While the focus is on providing equal access to early childhood education across the nation’s grassroots, this is only the first step towards becoming a literate India. What we need is equal access to quality early education.

Global and national organisations both heed this fact; renowned children’s social welfare organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), always prefaces the word education with ‘quality’ across their policy documents and resources.

This, however, begs the question…

How Do We Define ‘Quality’ In ECCE? 

This definition differs from country to country, and even across the stakeholder groups, depending on values, socio-economic context, and more. Research has tended to use structural or process dimensions, or both, to gauge the quality of preschool programmes (Lamb, 1998). 

*Structural measures refer to staff–child ratios, staff qualifications, teaching experience and stability, health and safety factors, and the physical setting. Process measures include the quality of interactions between staff and children. These measures are then related to favourable child outcomes.

Low-quality Programs Hinder Progress

The research is clear; early experiences have a longstanding impact on children. To summarize, all brain development depends on what we have experienced before. All our neural pathways are formed as a result of repeated actions, and occur from the bottom up. These early experiences shape our learning capacities, our behaviours, and even our physical and mental health. When these early experiences — of which early education is majorly responsible for — are not supported by an adequate quality of ECCE, we risk our children’s future.

Square Panda India Recommends: How We Go About Implementing Quality In ECCE

• Trained ECCE stakeholders: There is strong evidence that enriched stimulating environments and high-quality pedagogy are fostered by better qualified staff, and better quality pedagogy leads to better learning outcomes (Litjens and Taguma, 2010). This suggests well-trained and well-educated adults are key to providing high-quality early educational programs for favourable child development. However, training is simply one factor that impacts child outcomes. It is the ability of the trained adult to create a holistic learning atmosphere and pedagogical environment that makes a difference in quality. This includes:
  – A good understanding of ECCE
  – Knowledge of how an early brain develops, and how early experiences impact learning
  – Supporting resources (like tools, infrastructure, and a strong early learning community) to reduce burden on educators and Anganwadi workers

• Content Backed By Early Childhood Research: Global research is clear; not only are the early years crucial to children’s development, but they also need to be supported by a stimulating and enriching environment. For a well-rounded development in these early years, ECCE programs need to include quality content that is based on the latest learnings in early childhood research. This curriculum needs to take into account the entire ecosystem that comes into play when a child begins to learn, and integrate multiple crucial components of early development into the programs.
  Read more about Square Panda’s research into neuroscience and the early learner.

• Measurable Outcomes: While driving up the accessibility to early education is a noble cause, attention must be taken to ensure high quality programs reach India’s children. Data from multiple countries share a cautionary note; evidence from high-, middle- and low-income countries alike demonstrates that even when access goes up, children’s outcomes do not always improve (e.g. Wong et al., 2013). Measurement is the only way to gauge if our early learning programs are having the required impact on children’s development. We can track outcomes at scale across the entire early learning landscape, customising the indicators of development as per each state. The data derived can then be used for actionable insights and corrective actions. 

As innovators of high-quality ECCE programs ourselves, we are uniquely positioned to partner with multiple stakeholders at different levels of India’s early learning landscape. Learn more about us and our NEP 2020-aligned programs at ecce.squarepanda.in.

*To view our approach to implementing our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs, read this article.

Research has demonstrated how literacy and numeracy are intrinsically tied to future learning and success. Closer to home, the India Early Childhood Education Impact (IECEI) study conducted by the ASER Centre and the Centre for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED) clearly showed that exposing children to high-quality early education, i.e., basic reading, math, and developmental skills, improves their learning ability in early primary classes.

Unfortunately, acquisition of foundational skills is inadequate across India, to the extent of being a learning crisis, reports the National Education Policy 2020. The ASER 2019 report paints a grim picture. 

• Only 34.8% of std. 2 and 50.8% of std. 3 students could read std. 1 level text
• 51.4% of std. 2 and 66% of std. 3 students could do single digit oral subtraction problems, placing them substantially behind the education curve

A strong education has far-reaching effects on society, including ensuring economic prosperity, and societal well-being. Research studies over the years concur with this, with research conducted by John Bynner and Sam Parsons highlighting the importance of literacy and numeracy skills for gaining and retaining employment. 

How Square Panda India Impacts Foundational Learning In India: Case Study Findings

As Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) experts and innovators, we have been working with multiple state governments and impact organisations to show the efficacy of our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs under Aarambh.

Our studies demonstrate encouraging trends to support the efficacy and use of Square Panda India’s teaching-learning programs with a large number of educators, Anganwadi workers, and children.

Study 1: CHHATTISGARH SCHOOLS

• We started our intervention in 7 schools from grades 1-5, with students who do not have access to education outside their classrooms and had never gone to Anganwadis. 
• Before our intervention, reading and comprehension were the weakest skills, with a majority of the students not having even the slightest exposure to the English language. 
• We trained teachers to effectively use our program in the classroom, providing constant support as we introduced our early reading app to the children. 
• At the end of five weeks with our SquareTales app, word reading skills had improved by over 300%, and sentence reading skills had improved by over 125%. Notably, children could use their learnings to read newer words and sentences.

“The intervention by our foundational program worked so well that a child with no prior knowledge of English could read the first five SquareTales books when he was taught only till book 2.” – Ashish Jhalani, MD, Square Panda India

Study 2: AKANKSHA FOUNDATION 

• We conducted trials with SKG and Grade 1 students across Mumbai and Pune with this non-profit organisation across four months. 
• By the end of the study, there was an overall improvement of 32% in SKG and 128% in Grade 1. 
• There was considerable improvement in literacy outcomes & different skills like Alphabet Knowledge, Letter Sound Knowledge, Word Decoding, Spelling, and Sentence Reading. 
• We saw that the students had become much more confident and interested in learning. 
• They could independently use tablets, leading to digital literacy in students.

Study 3: MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF GREATER MUMBAI (MCGM) 

• This six-week program with grade 2 students showed significant progress in early literacy skills among the control group, without any external intervention. 
• After using our program 4-5 times a week, for 15 minutes a day, we observed an improvement of 75% in reading skills.

Study 4: SITAPUR AND CHITRAKOOT DISTRICTS IN UTTAR PRADESH

• These progressive districts signed up with Square Panda India to conduct a comprehensive Empowerment & Enrichment Program for ECCE Educators for primary grade teachers in government schools. 
• After our 60-hour training program, post-program assessment showed a 47.83% increase in understanding of teaching methodology, a 44.38% improvement in classroom management skills, and a 43% increase in knowledge of ECCE and its varied facets.

Study 5: UPSKILLING PROGRAM WITH A SOUTHERN STATE (ONGOING) 

• To adequately equip these crucial frontline workers, Square Panda India is partnering with a southern state to deliver an intensive program for Anganwadi workers. 
• This program will be conducted physically, covering six extensive core modules, and will include practical hands-on activities like role-playing and group discussions for additional comprehension.

Armed with continuous research in pedagogy as well as our product, Square Panda India is confident in its ability to adopt best practices from global markets, while streamlining our programs under Aarambh to cater to the early education system in India in alignment with the NEP 2020 goals. For us, this is an extension of our commitment to overcome the challenge of preparing our teachers for early childhood education and our children for the future. 

Learn more at ecce.squarepanda.in

Our understanding of the importance of early education stems from the fact that 85% of brain development happens before the age of eight. This fact is highlighted in the National Education Policy 2020, and is one reason for the renewed focus on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Studies show that for a young learner’s holistic development, there needs to exist a supportive, and stimulating environment. The lack of such an enriching environment can stunt brain development.

To impact early childhood education on a large scale, Square Panda India has identified a need to impact each person responsible for imparting early learning. In effect, this includes ECCE stakeholders – parents, teachers, administrators, and other early years’ educators, leaders, and children themselves.

Every adult has to not only function as a high-quality content creator but understand the science behind early learning, and the system that comes into play as a young child begins to learn.

To further our goal of transforming the ECCE landscape in India, we adopted a three-pronged approach to develop the entire early education ecosystem; the Anganwadi workers, ECCE educators, and the children themselves. This early learning initiative, called Aarambh, holistically empowers each stakeholder through foundational learning and educator empowerment programs.

Square Panda India’s Research Into The Early Brain

Aarambh is completely research-driven, with each program interconnected. This comprehensive approach guarantees that we meet the desired learning outcomes. Knowledge of multiple crucial components of early childhood education is integrated into our programs, enhancing the development of foundational skills like cognitive development, motor skills, reasoning, and more. To impact learning outcomes holistically, we put years of neuroscience research into developing our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Our programs ensure every stakeholder is well-versed in the pedagogy and the neuroscience behind early learning, with a strong grasp of digital knowledge, for a well-rounded 21^st century approach to teaching-learning methodologies.

Strategic Expertise

Square Panda India has assembled a team of 100+ experts and specialists from the ECCE sector across India, including school administrators, educators, teacher trainers, counsellors, specialists in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and early education, child psychologists, technologists, game developers, and coders, whose participation and insights have proven invaluable while structuring our program curriculum.

We are constantly building our teams and ensuring we bring the most innovative ECCE programs to impact young learners and early years educators. Furthermore, we have built our teams keeping in mind regional language requirements. 

Curriculum Designing Process

STEP I: Our expert team of in-house researchers puts in deep thought and years of research while designing each module of the Square Panda India foundational learning and educator empowerment programs.

STEP II: We conducted on-ground pilots with governments and impact organisations across India to measure the efficacy of our teaching-learning programs.

STEP III: Expert on-ground teams were conscripted to assess each aspect of our programs.

STEP IV: This assessment led to the extraction of performance metrics, which were used to evaluate areas of improvement.

STEP V: Armed with analytics from our studies and field research to prove our impact, we have partnered with and continue to partner with multiple state governments and the central government to drive learning and skill development for millions of children and early years’ educators across India.

Our ‘Six-Pillar’ Approach 

Square Panda India follows a systematic approach with the following six pillars that we have identified, for a holistic change:

Pillar 1 – Goal Setting: We create a well thought out and structured plan around a common vision. We then define the program objective, its outcomes, and key measurement metrics. For greater clarity and alignment across the stakeholders, we identify and define the key responsibilities early on. Lastly, we design the program schedule, key milestones, and timelines.

Pillar 2 – Curriculum Designing: Our expert team designs our innovative curriculum, conceptualising them for India while using best global practices.  

Pillar 3 – Implementation: To bring about seamless implementation, we:

• Create a program management team comprising stakeholders from the Government, respective organisations, and Square Panda India, who create a detailed roll-out plan
• Create an on-ground team from the local community for additional effectiveness
• Implement our program

Pillar 4 – Measurement & Evaluation: Our programs are assessed periodically throughout the year to measure impact. The results are compared and presented at multiple levels – grade-wise, age-wise, skills-wise, school-wise, district-wise, and state-wise. These assessments throw light on gaps and common issues, providing actionable insights that aid in improving the subsequent program outcomes and effectiveness.

Pillar 5 – Monitoring & Accountability: Square Panda India promotes complete transparency while implementing our programs, conducting regular field visits, gathering feedback from participants, and ensuring Program Health checks are provided to stakeholders for review.

Pillar 6 – Support: We provide continuous support throughout the program by supplying end-to-end solutions, including teacher training, classroom resources like teaching-learning material, lesson plans, and performance data to help make decisions on how to help students better their learning journey.

Blending Practical With Theoretical

To transform early childhood education, and drive it to its fullest potential, we take on a holistic approach towards the development and implementation of our foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Each aspect of our programs incorporates practical application alongside theory for better outcomes:

In Our Teams: Each member of our content and curriculum team has been chosen based on the expertise in teacher training and development, and years in ECCE. Subsequently, our content is based on their insight and in-depth practical knowledge of the early learning landscape in India.

During Implementation: Square Panda India translates our ECCE expertise and research into the field, taking a rounded approach to implementing each program. We blend practical knowledge with theory, using case studies, role plays, group games, and activities to enhance the understanding of our curriculum.

Our years of research in early childhood learning, understanding of how young minds work, and use of neuroscience-backed learnings to develop our programs, sets us apart from similar programs, making us a partner of choice.

Learn more about us: ecce.squarepanda.in

What Is Public-Private Partnership? 

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are collaborations between the public and private sectors with a focus on system efficiency, cost-effectiveness, innovation and accountability. In a PPP, the private sector provides infrastructure, assets and services that were otherwise provided by the Centre. An innovative idea to tap private resources, the PPP model looks at encouraging the private sector to participate in national development. We see successful examples all around us, in infrastructure, energy, communication, airports, and more.

The NEP 2020 addresses a wide range of reforms aimed at increasing enrolment and retention while making Indian education broad-based, skill-oriented and contemporary with potential to unlock a part of the demographic dividend in India. With the allowance for 100% FDI in the education sector, there have been numerous initiatives from the Centre and State governments to develop the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) landscape further.

Why Does Early Education In India Need The PPP Model? 

Currently, in India, there are around 240 million children under the age of 8 who can benefit from equitable access to good quality education. At present, we can divide them into Metropolitans, Tier 1, Tier 2, and so on. The other parts of the ECCE ecosystem, like the anganwadis, the schools, are just as many. Implementing any sort of program is not a task for a single entity to accomplish easily, whether it is a public concern or a private organisation. A public-private partnership speeds up this process, reducing the time taken. As a result, the implementation itself speeds up. The PPP model is critical to see a better and larger impact across the spectrum: young learners benefit from early implementation, it affects future learning, and the economy and future of the nation are also impacted.

As we cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach to implementation, and as each state presents its own sets of challenges and opportunities, partnering with another concern, one that shares a common vision to create an increasingly literate India, is more a necessity than a want.

Strategic Advantages To Adopting The PPP Model:

Well-designed public-private partnership models can help the government effectively implement the NEP 2020’s vision. The key benefits to such a partnership would include:

• Equal Access To Quality Early Education: The focus is currently on providing quality in ECCE. A PPP model is key to fulfil goals of reduced resource wastage, lower dropout rate, and reduced absenteeism. Private edtech organisations, by their very nature, are innovative and research-driven. They are scientifically sound, flexible, and can introduce better pedagogies and stronger management techniques to early education. An effective PPP model also helps bring in marginalised sections of the society into mainstream education, fostering inclusivity and breaking geographical barriers.
• Gains From Efficiency: The private sector’s ability to specialise in certain areas equip it with added benefits. Including such partners, with highly specific skill sets, can increase the efficiency across the board, raising the funding, boosting the delivery, and heightening the development of every ECCE stakeholder (Anganwadi workers, pre-primary and primary educators, and children) in the process.
• Innovation, Technology, & R&D: Private edtech organisations, by their very nature, are innovative and research-driven. Most invest heavily in R&D, using technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to enhance their services. This technology brings the edge and innovation needed to keep costs low, improve efficiency and speed of execution.
• Targeted Focus: Private players help the government function effectively across SDGs, streamlining their focus towards a particular sub-specialisation. This helps them impact the last-mile delivery efficiently, with minimal wasted effort.
• Speed Of Implementation: Implementation is key to any structural change. The government should look towards the PPP model for faster and quality implementation of NEP 2020’s vision. PPPs can help extend the reach and effectiveness of government funds, encourage innovation in education, increase safety, efficiency, and capacity of physical educational infrastructure, and given the right public policy context, extend access to educational services and parity of services received across a population. They allow the government to maintain strategic, financial and regulatory control over public education, allowing them to step back from the day-to-day delivery and management of the infrastructure and/or service in situations where their resources are limited.
• Accountability: “The private sector is built on accountability. This is where the biggest part of the PPP model can impact early learning, by bringing accountability into the public framework, and impacting learning outcomes.”, says Square Panda India MD, Mr. Ashish Jhalani, in an excerpt from our upcoming round table discussion on ‘Role of Public Private Partnerships in Innovation and Implementation of NEP 2020’. 
  *The fourth episode of our #EarlyLearningMatters series is airing this Saturday and Sunday, only on the Times Channels.

• Effective Service Delivery: A responsive and effective service delivery framework depends on the right combination of supply and demand, alongside a robust governance framework, that can help resources flow right down to the local levels. Most private partners, especially those in early education, are always engaged in continuous improvement of their services, and believe in keeping a high quality standard, delivering programs that efficiently impact every stakeholder in the ECCE ecosystem.

Partnerships and wide scale collaborations with educationally inclined companies, foundations, and governments can bring in the necessary innovation and tools that can turn the NEP 2020 vision into a reality.

Square Panda India’s early learning initiative, ‘Aarambh’, as the name suggests, aims to holistically develop the ECCE ecosystem, which includes the Anganwadi workers, ECCE educators, and the children. Through this initiative, Square Panda India works closely with government schools, communities and organisations across the grassroots levels, to provide NEP 2020-focused foundational learning and educator empowerment programs. Aligning all the stakeholders towards a common goal, Square Panda India is dedicated to transform the Indian early learning space, by up-skilling Anganwadi workers, empowering ECCE educators, and providing foundational learning to the children.

Reasons Square Panda India Is The Perfect Partner For ECCE Development Across India:

• We are geared towards inclusive growth.
• We invest heavily in innovation and R&D.
• Our NEP 2020-aligned curriculum is designed by an in-house team of ECCE experts with a collective experience of more than 50 years in this domain.
• We upskill educators and students with technological knowledge, helping them acquire important 21st century skills.
• We facilitate impact measurement at the core of each program, for timely interventions.
• We conduct regular self-audits, allowing for course corrections.
• Each of our programs is customisable as per the state’s requirements.

An effective and well-designed public-private partnership has the potential to take teaching beyond the classrooms, and give teachers the tools to impact the child in all aspects of their lives. We at Square Panda India believe investing in PPP is a very strong strategy to accelerate development in the Indian early childhood education sector.

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. ECCE is the pathway to nurture caring, capable and responsible future citizens.

Research shows us that the critical period of brain development, almost 85%, happens before young learners reach the age of six. To build a better foundation for future success, these early years need to be supported by a stimulating and enabling environment. 

For the well-rounded development of each child across the heartland of India, we need to recognise and acknowledge the various key stakeholders of this environment or ecosystem: 

– The Anganwadi workers, who prepare the child.
– The primary and pre-primary educators, impart this new age education
– The children themselves
*Read our article on Anganwadis, here.

Square Panda India is looking to bring about a systemic change in the ECCE landscape in India by introducing Aarambh, an early learning initiative to holistically impact the ECCE ecosystem in India, which comprises the Anganwadi workers who prepare the children for schooling, the ECCE educators who impart new age education, and the children themselves. As a part of this commitment, we have created NEP 2020-aligned foundational learning and educator empowerment programs that holistically empower each part of this ecosystem. We believe empowering anganwadi and balwadi workers, along with ECCE educators, will drive early childhood education in India to new heights, creating a truly self-reliant nation. To spread awareness about various crucial topics related to early education, we have planned a series of round table discussions with early childhood education experts, on the theme—EarlyLearningMatters. 

Watch our 2nd panel on the ‘The literacy & numeracy conversation must begin from Anganwadis and Balwadis’, right here, and stay tuned to our social media for news on upcoming discussions.