Nipun Haryana Mission catches fancy of Lankan edu ministry
An 18-member delegation of Sri Lanka’s ministry of education, led by deputy director general of national institute of education, who is the pedagogy in charge for overall education system at the national level will visit primary schools and hold interactive sessions to understand how Haryana has implemented Nipun, a national flagship programme.
The Nipun Haryana Mission, designed to equip primary school students with essential foundational skills, has caught the attention of the Sri Lankan government.
An 18-member delegation of Sri Lanka’s ministry of education, led by deputy director general of national institute of education, who is the pedagogy in charge for overall education system at the national level will visit primary schools and hold interactive sessions to understand how Haryana has implemented Nipun, a national flagship programme.
Haryana school education department has drawn out an extensive plan for the three-day visit beginning on February 11 from Gurugram, government officials said.
The delegation held interactive sessions on Monday in Delhi with the different Union government officials. The delegation comprises Sri Lankan national institute of education’s director of the department of early childhood development and primary education; director of policy and planning (ministry of education); deputy directors and assistant directors of primary education; and senior officials from UNICEF Sri Lanka, including the chief of education, education specialists, and education officers.
The visit comes close on the heels of Annual Status of Education Report (ASER-2024) released in New Delhi on January 28 that highlights Haryana’s performance in foundational literacy and numeracy across Classes 3, 5 and 8 and when compared to national averages, it indicates significant recovery post-pandemic.
The National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) is a nationwide mission aimed at ensuring all children achieve foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the end of Class 3.
Launched on July 5, 2021, under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, NIPUN Bharat focuses on strengthening literacy in Hindi and English alongside numeracy skills. Haryana introduced its own NIPUN Haryana Mission on July 30, 2021.
Officials say that Haryana is a frontrunner in executing NEP- 2020 reforms and has set a benchmark in foundational learning, reaffirming its commitment to building a strong educational foundation for future generations.
According to Haryana’s principal secretary (school education) Pankaj Agarwal, the visit highlights Haryana’s growing role as a knowledge hub for foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) reforms, providing valuable insights for other nations looking to implement similar initiatives.
“Through structured reforms under NEP 2020, Haryana has developed a model for FLN implementation, which is now serving as a reference point for international collaboration. We are looking forward to the visit of Sri Lankan delegation,” Agarwal said.
Visit to Balvatika Gurugram
According to Pramod Kumar, state programme officer of NIPUN, the delegation also comprises senior officials from UNICEF Sri Lanka, who will visit Balvatika and primary grade classrooms in Gurugram on Tuesday to observe Haryana’s approach to foundational learning.
The delegation will interact with FLN coordinators, teachers, mentors, and school heads. This will be followed by classroom observations to witness FLN pedagogy in action and a review of Teaching-Learning Materials (TLMs), including pedagogy guides, workbooks and textbooks.
“The delegation will also explore digital tools used for student performance tracking and teacher mentoring. The delegation will visit SCERT Gurugram to gain insights into teacher training programme,” said Kumar, who will also brief the delegates about Haryana’s NIPUN programme.
On February 12, the delegation will hold discussions with senior officials of the school education department in Panchkula. They will be given a presentation on NIPUN Haryana’s progress and implementation strategies, programme planning, monitoring and assessment methodologies.
The delegation will visit schools in Panchkula on February 13 in both morning and evening shifts to observe governance models and the impact of NIPUN Haryana at the grassroots level.
The agenda includes classroom visits to witness FLN instruction and teacher-student engagement. The delegates will be apprised of the digital interventions used to supporting student learning, and the last session will culminate with discussions and reflections on the visit.
The aim of the visit is to facilitate an exchange of best practices and innovations in the implementation of the NEP-2020 and the NIPUN Haryana Mission, which focus on FLN.
The objective of NIPUN, a national mission, is to enable all children at the end of Class 3 to attain foundational skills. Haryana has taken a slew of steps to achieve the objectives of the NIPUN Bharat Mission for foundational literacy (Hindi and English) and numeracy. “After NIPUN Haryana mission was launched, Haryana started various academic initiatives to make certain that each child achieves grade-level competencies required under foundational literacy and numeracy and play our part in making the NIPUN Bharat Mission a success,” said Kumar, state programme officer of NIPUN.