Limited Urgency in Addressing Learning Deficits: Causes and Solutions

Context: India continues to grapple with a severe learning crisis, consistently highlighted by the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER). Although recent progress and policy efforts, especially those targeting Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), are noteworthy, they have not translated into a sense of urgency at the grassroots. A central reason can be traced to the idea of salience, how far an issue is acknowledged, given priority, and translated into action by society.

Role of Salience in Public Policy

Outcomes

Salience determines whether policies lead to meaningful outcomes. Systemic transformation depends not only on sound design or increased funding but also on collective acknowledgement and ownership of the issue.

• Eg: Vietnam achieved impressive learning outcomes despite limited resources, as noted in research by the RISE Programme. This success was attributed to a strong societal commitment to education and a shared willingness to prioritise learning.
• In contrast, India’s initiatives, including the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN Bharat Mission, have yet to generate similar urgency at the local level.

Disconnect Between Policy and Practice

Despite clear policy emphasis on FLN, implementation remains weak on the ground.

• Discussions in schools and communities often revolve around infrastructure such as buildings, sanitation, and teacher shortages rather than actual learning outcomes.
• This suggests that learning has not yet become a central concern for local stakeholders.

Reasons for low salience

• Invisible Nature of Learning: Learning deficits are not easily observable. Unlike physical shortcomings, gaps in comprehension often go unnoticed, and classroom processes may create a false impression of progress.
• Weak Accountability Mechanisms: Children lack agency, and many parents cannot adequately assess learning. Centralised decision-making and limited local authority further weaken accountability. Additionally, middle-class migration to private schools reduces pressure on public systems.
• Underestimation of the Problem: Even informed stakeholders frequently misjudge the scale of the crisis. Data on poor learning outcomes are often surprising or dismissed, hindering effective response.
• Blurred Responsibility: There is a common belief that while schooling is the state’s duty, learning depends on the child or family. This overlooks systemic factors like teaching quality and curriculum design.
• Psychological and Political Constraints: Accepting the crisis can be difficult for policymakers and educators who have prioritised expanding access. Politically, acknowledging widespread learning gaps may carry risks, leading to hesitation.
• Sense of Fatalism: A belief that systemic issues are inevitable discourages reform, despite evidence that improvement is achievable.

Way forward

• Promote local-level assessments: This allows parents and officials to directly observe learning levels, making the issue more tangible.
• Clear communication: Both the scale of the crisis and evidence-based solutions.
• Scale up proven interventions: Interventions such as Teaching at the Right Level and structured pedagogy.
• Strengthen accountability frameworks: It helps ensure responsibility at all levels.
• Encourage community participation: Also, empowering local institutions to create bottom-up demand for change.

Conclusion

India’s learning crisis is less about inadequate policy or resources and more about insufficient collective prioritisation. Without heightened salience, even well-designed initiatives fail to deliver results. Sustainable improvement will require making learning outcomes a shared societal priority, driven by coordinated efforts from communities, educators, and policymakers.

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