AA Edit | Emergency In Indian Schools

The findings of the nationwide student survey have laid bare a disturbing reality: Nearly half of India’s school students lack foundational skills in literacy, numeracy and situational awareness. From Class III students (45 per cent struggling to correctly arrange numbers up to 99) to Class IX students (66 per cent) unable to distinguish between living and non-living features, the data reveals a systemic crisis in learning outcomes that could derail India’s economic and developmental ambitions and tear the social fabric as the nation gets older.

This is not just an educational challenge. It is a national emergency. If 69 per cent of Class IX students cannot understand basic number systems and percentages, how can one expect them to be employable and contribute to the country’s development? If two-thirds of Class IX students do not know the difference between living and non-living features, the demographic dividend that the government boasts of today could turn into a demographic disaster.

The learning gaps in rural areas are greater than average numbers. Similarly, small private schools often have relatively ill-equipped teachers and poor infrastructure.

With the world embracing artificial intelligence and machine learning, people must be strong in fundamentals to get a decent job. However, India’s future youth with such glaring learning gaps threaten to hollow out the very foundations of our future workforce.

The government must, therefore, treat education reforms at par with infrastructure or defence and introduce measures to ensure that the crisis in the learning gap is addressed. School education is a subject of national importance and should not be politicised either for the benefit of the ruling party or the Opposition parties — anything to the contrary would be a disservice to the future generations of India and jeopardise India’s rise to superpower status.