Some states may serve as role models in certain aspects of foundational literacy and numeracy but they too need to learn from other states while addressing their challenges, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister said on Thursday.
The independent body constituted to give advice on economic and related issues to the Prime Minister released a report on the state of foundational literacy and numeracy in the country highlighting the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child.
The EAC-PM stressed that access to quality early childhood education is a fundamental right, noting the formative years require to be understood in the backdrop of socio-economic, psychological, and technological hindrances children face.
“Education leads to positive externalities and the quality of education imparted is important especially during the formative years. The present attainments in literacy and numeracy and the variations among states should be the focus for remedial action,” Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM said during a panel discussion on the report.
The report pointed towards the particularly worse performance of the states on the Governance pillar, with half of the states scoring below the national average. The EAC-PM said in a statement that the pillar-wise analyses help states “assess the state of the budgetary measures and steps needed to improve the state of education and identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth.”
The performance of larger states like Rajasthan (25.67), Gujarat (22.28), and Bihar (18.23) was below average while the North-eastern states performed better than the rest as a result of their superior performance.
