National Steering Committee: NIPUN Bharat Mission

Context

Recently, a National Steering Committee (NSC) has been formed for the implementation of the NIPUN Bharat Mission.

Roles and Responsibilities of NSC

• To oversee the progress of the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and guide on policy issues.
• To arrive at the target to be achieved nationally in 2026-27.
• Distribute tools to measure annual progress in the form of guidelines.
• Preparing and approving the National Action Plan (based on state action plans).
• Review systematic and financial norms from time to time to ensure that they are in line with the objectives to be achieved.

NIPUN Bharat Mission

• NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading and Understanding and Numeracy) The Bharat Scheme was launched earlier this year as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Aim: To create an enabling environment to ensure universal access to basic literacy and numeracy, so that every child acquires the desired reading, writing, and numeracy skills by the end of Grade 3, 2026-27.
• Focus areas: Focus on providing access and custody of children in the early years of schooling; teacher skills development; development of high quality and diverse resources for Learners and Teachers / Learning Resources; and tracking each child's progress in achieving learning outcomes.
• Implementation: NIPUN Bharat will be used by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Department of Education.
• A five-phase implementation plan will be developed at the National-District-District-Block-School level in all states and UTs, under a framework sponsored by the Samagra Shiksha Center.
• The ‘Samagra Shiksha’ program was presented using three existing programs: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), and Teacher Education (TE).
• This program aims to manage school education as a whole, from preschool to XII class.
• A special package for Foundation Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) under NISHTHA (National School Heads and Comprehensive Teacher Development Program) is developed by NCERT.
• NISHTHA is a capacity-building program "Improving School Education Quality through Integrated Teacher Training".
• Stage-wise targets are being set in a continuum from the pre-primary or Bal Vatika classes.

Other Recent Initiatives

• Samagra Shiksha Scheme 2.0
• Vidyanjali portal
• Indian Sign Language Dictionary, etc.