NIPUN Bharat Mission: A Guide for School and Teachers  

NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy)  is the national mission to ensure every child achieves proficiency in reading with understanding and numeracy. It’s part of the National Education Programme 2020 (NEP), launched under the nation-sponsored Samagra Shiksha Scheme. 

The implementation of the scheme aims to decrease dropout from the school,  improve the education system, and encourage students to learn in a joyful way and become proficient in reading, writing and calculating. 

Schools, teachers, parents, and administration are required to successfully integrate the scheme to facilitate students an improved pedagogy for learning, and help the nation achieve the objectives of Nipun Bharat scheme. 

What is the Nipun Bharat Mission?

Nipun Bharat mission is an initiative of NEP 2020 which aims for every student to achieve Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN) at an early age.  For learning, early age(0 to 8 years) is the most significant period for a child’s growth and development. This age laid the foundation for a child’s holistic development. Strong and quality educational facility at this age encourages children to participate in learning and leave a lasting impact. 

Who, When, and Why Launched the Nipun Bharat Mission? 

The government of India, under Shamgarh Shiksha, has a dedicated mission, ‘National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy’ (NIPUN Bharat), launched on 5th July 2021.

The scheme has been launched to ensure that every child in the country can achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy by grade 3, i.e. reading with understanding, writing with purpose and understanding numeracy to solve day-to-day life situations. 

• According to the World bank and UNESCO Learning Poverty Index, 55% of children in India at a late primary age can’t read proficiently. 
• As per NAS 2017 report, 13-18% of students from classes 3, 5, and 8 are below basic learning levels, and only 39-53% have achieved proficiency: NAS 2017 Report. 

Importance of Nipun Bharat Mission 

Research suggests that Class 3 is an inflection point. It is only time until children learn to read, and by then, they read to learn. So, schools, parents, and committees must ensure that every child in the country attains foundational literacy and numeracy skills by then. 

Nipun Bharat Mission for Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN) involves activities such as play, stories, rhymes, local art, crafts, and music that ensure children learn joyfully and develop solid foundations for lifelong learning. 

The Nipun Bharat Mission will: 

• Help children read with comprehension
• Help children understand numbers, measurement, and shapes
• Use play and activity-based pedagogy
• Teach in children’s home languages
• Provide high-quality teaching-learning material to engage children
• Build capacities of teachers, academic resource persons, education administrators
• Track children’s learning levels consistently
• Conduct meaningful assessments using polls, quizzes, games, etc.

Objective of  Nipun Bharat Mission

• By 2026-27, every Class 3 child should be able to read with understanding at a rate of at least 60 words per minute, read and write numbers up to 9999, and solve simple multiplication problems.
• By 2025, every child must have foundational literacy and numeracy skills at the primary level. 
• The mission aims to reduce dropouts and increase the number of students who complete the primary, upper primary, and secondary stages.
• It envisions an enhanced education quality that ensures the holistic development of every child.
• Enhanced pedagogies in schools include creative assessments such as quizzes, games, polls, etc., and activities like music, rhyme, drama, etc., for learning purposes.

Key Components of  Nipun Bharat Mission

Nipun Bharat’s mission focuses on reading with Understanding and numeracy. The critical components of reading and literacy of Nipun Bharat mission are: 

• Oral language development 
• Decoding/Understanding of letters, words etc 
• Reading Fluency by understanding meaning and punctuation.
• Reading comprehension accurately
• Writing alphabets and words with expressions.

Apart from the significant aspects of numeracy, the Nipun Bharat mission is for children in class III to learn to solve simple numerical problems significant for daily life. The key elements are: 

• Pre-number concepts
• Numbers and operations on numbers
• Shapes and Spatial Understanding
• Measurement
• Data Handling. 

Initiative for Nipun Bharat Mission 

Here are some initiatives taken by the government for the Nipun Bharat mission:

• ₹37,453 crore has been allocated to the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), of which Nipun Bharat is a part, for 2023-24.
• The National Steering Committee has been formed to implement the Nipun Bharat Mission.
• Vidya Pravesh’s three-month play-based school preparation module guidelines and modules for grade I have been developed. 
• NISHTHA-FLN has been launched for teachers and school heads of preschool to Grade V. 
• Launch of NISHTHA ECCE (Early Childhood Care and Education) for master trainers/ resource persons for the training of preschool teachers/Anganwadi workers
• Foundational Learning Study (FLS) has been conducted for Nipun Bharat Mission. 
• Creation of DIKSHA FLN portal for the availability of FLN resources.
• The organisation of 100 days reading campaign 
• Development of guidelines for parent participation in home-based learning during school closure and beyond
• Development of guidelines for community engagement in foundational learning; training of academic task force (ATF) and district task force members (DTFS)
• National conference on initiatives in foundational learning: voices from the ground to exchange best practices, share status and understand challenges
• Continuous tracking and monitoring (monthly, quarterly, annually) of the mission implementation in all the states and UTS.

Implementation of Nipun Bharat Mission 

The Department of School Education and Literacy implemented the Nipun Bharat Mission with a 5 tier implementation mechanism. 

1. National
2. State
3. District
4. Block
5. School

The success of the mission highly depends on teachers.   

Role of  Teachers, Schools, and School Management Committee in Nipun Bharat Mission

Role of Teachers/Schools in Nipun Bharat Mission

• Create an enabling environment in the classroom/ school to implement curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment as suggested in the NIPUN Bharat Mission.
• Continuously build an understanding of new pedagogical approaches for foundational learning.
• Head Teacher support in academic innovation, pedagogy, and assessment.
• Implement Vidya Pravesh (a three-month play-based school preparation module for grade I)
• Display of Lakshyas or outcomes to motivate students and committees to participate. 
• Ensure the safety and hygiene of the school and children.
• Implement and continuously reflect on pedagogy, TLM, and assessment for learning and improvement.
• Engage parents and the community in learning about the child’s holistic development.

What Nipun Bharat Mission Offers to Teachers? 

Since teachers are the primary stakeholders of the Nipun Bharat mission who can ensure its success, special emphasis is placed on building their capacity.  

• The Nipun Bharat mission provides NISHTHA FLN Training. NISHTHA is the National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement Scheme. 
• These are resources for teachers on FLN ( Foundational Literacy & Numeracy) in various languages and for various boards, including state, CBSE, ICSE, etc. 

You can access the online courses and materials to prepare for the Nipun Bharat mission at https://diksha.gov.in/.

How to be Ready for the Nipun Bharat Mission?

Encourage teachers to be involved in training. 

Training is crucial for teachers to make the Nipun Bharat mission successful. The Ministry of Education organises training programmes, and online courses are available for teachers to strategise their teaching methods for preschool to grade 3 students. 

Displays Lakshayas on the school campus and classroom 

Displaying Lakshayas helps motivate students, teachers, and academic task forces to stick to the mission and make it a great success. The display of goals also offers a roadmap to take steps in teaching and learning.

Adapt technology 

Technology plays a crucial role in education.  To achieve the goal of the Nipun Bharat mission, schools can embrace technology such as interactive panels for the classroom, a learning management portal for coordination of parents and teachers, school management software for better teaching and learning management, etc. 

Achieve Nipun Bharat Mission’s Goal with Senses Intelligent Panel

Senses Intelligent interactive panel is an innovative digital panel that helps conduct visually enriched classrooms for students. The smart display panel, connected with the Internet and global education resources, assists you in embracing a 360-degree learning approach for the kids. 

With it, you can showcase the children’s videos, make them hear voices, and help them identify numbers, things, and words by showing images on a large TV-like display in a classroom. 

The senses panel has multiple features and a strong 0-radiation display that is best for classroom learning and teaching. With it, you can conduct several activities in the classroom to make children learn in a fun way. 

Want to know about the Senses interactive panel in detail? 

Let’s schedule a personalised panel demonstration at your place! 

FAQs Related to Nipun Bharat Mission 

1. What is the Nipun Bharat Mission?

Nipun Bharat Mission is an initiative to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary school. 

2. What are the three goals of FLN?

The three goals of Foundation Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) are:

• HW (Health and Wellbeing)
• EC (Effective Communicators)
• IL (Involved Learners)