At the age of 10, were you able to comprehend simple English?

Well, 50 percent of children in India can’t.

And, it’s futile to try to bandage the wounds of foundational literacy in adulthood, ex-IAS officer Dhir Jhingran (62) notes. What he suggests instead is that we tackle the systemic roots of the problem. His tenure as the district magistrate for two years in Assam’s Kokrajhar around 1986 forms the bedrock of his suggestion.

“There were many children who did not attend school there,” he recalls. To Jhingran, this felt wrong; something that even the absence of a ‘Right to Education’ Act — the Act was enacted in 2009 — couldn’t condone. “I just felt that every child should be in school,” he adds. Years later, he would recall this sentiment as the precursor of his Delhi-based Language and Learning Foundation, which, since its inception in 2015, has helped 14.2 lakh children directly and 1.62 crore children through indirect approaches (framing academic material).

Equitising education and creating a level playing field

When the bell goes off for teacher Smita Chaturvedi’s lessons, her students are exuberant. They love her lectures. Smita is well aware of how crucial a sound foundation is for children’s academic milestones; she knows it can shape or break their futures. And so, she’s always attempted to breathe ingenuity into the topics she approaches.

But, for the better part of the 15 years that she’s taught at Koirajpur Primary School, in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, all she had to rely on was the standard textbook. Aside from the prescribed definitions, it wasn’t of much use. It didn’t answer fundamental questions. For instance, how could she make a topic relatable? How could she make learning fun?

That Smita has managed to crack the code is because of her holy grail — the workbooks and handbooks provided to her by the Language and Learning Foundation. For the last three years, she’s been walking into class armed with dynamic strategies — a radical departure from the customary methods. Weaning the children off rote learning, instead deploying tactile aids, posters, cue cards, and colours, helps break the ice between the students and the world around them in a more fun way.

And is it working?

The spring in Smita’s step and the decibel of the children’s responses suggest it is.

“Earlier, we used to teach concepts in the usual ways. Our classrooms have changed since our school collaborated with the Language and Learning Foundation. Our walls are now filled with stories, and children want to learn. They feel enthusiastic,” she shares.

She adds, “The workbook does not just focus on questions but also on activities. I teach Hindi and math; in Hindi, we usually solve the vocabulary that is given in the textbooks. But with the workbooks, children learn how to identify the........

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