Teachers play the most critical role in helping children learn meaning...

Teachers play the most critical role in helping children learn meaningfully. Decades of research[1] has found that an effective teacher can boost children’s learning by 1.5 grade level equivalents, while a struggling teacher only gets half an academic year’s worth out of their students. Raising teacher effectiveness is critical if we want India’s school-going children to master the basic academic concepts and thinking skills needed to succeed in later life. India has set itself an ambitious goal to achieve universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) by 2025, by ensuring that every child is able to read with meaning and solve basic math problems at the end of grade 3. Teachers will play an extremely crucial role in helping the country to achieve this goal.

However, efforts to improve teacher effectiveness have not yielded visible results. The government has taken several steps, including improving teacher salaries[2] and introducing portals like NISHTHA to build teacher capacity. However, teachers remain burdened with administrative tasks[3], leaving them with little time to prepare lessons. More significantly, pre and in-service training[4] fail to train them on the practical application of subject knowledge and pedagogical techniques that can potentially improve classroom teaching. Consequently, teachers enter classrooms without the skills of delivering engaging and rigorous instruction. The Young Lives School Survey, Andhra Pradesh, 2010-11 highlights that lecturing is the predominant mode of teaching, as presented below[5]:

Exhibit 1: Most frequently used teaching method and language observed in mathematics lessons (%)

Source: Young Lives School Survey, Andhra Pradesh, 2010-11

Structured Pedagogy: A Scientific Approach to Teaching Foundational Skills

Contrary to popular opinion, teaching is a highly complex and demanding job. If this seems hard to believe, try sitting in a classroom and keeping thirty energetic young children engaged in learning for thirty minutes! Research shows that on an average, elementary school teachers have 200 to 300 exchanges with students every hour (and between 1,200 to 1,500 exchanges in a day)[6]. This level of cognitive complexity is equivalent to that required of highly skilled professionals like doctors, engineers, or lawyers. So then, why are teachers not prepared with the same rigorous approach as their peers in other domains?

What if every teacher could identify the specific learning goals that each of their children can accomplish, in the same way as a lawyer understands the framework of the Constitution? What if we could train all teachers to take a step-by-step approach to teaching reading or subtraction, with the same precision that an engineer follows while building a semiconductor chip? What if an expert literacy coach could demonstrate an effective ‘read-aloud’ in the classroom, much like a senior surgeon demonstrates how to treat a trauma wound to medical residents? This is precisely what a 

‘Structured Pedagogy’ approach does – it is a scientific, evidence-based, learner-centered approach to teaching that equips every teacher with clearly defined objectives, proven methods, well-structured tools, and practical training

. Such a scientific approach has been proven to work for teaching foundational literacy and numeracy skills in children.

The goal of good literacy instruction is to ensure that all children are able to read on their own, at the right pace, and make meaning. Research on successful literacy programs[7] across countries[8] and languages shows that effective reading instruction boils down to five critical skills that need to be systematically and simultaneously built in children:

Manipulating smallest units of sounds in words 

Mapping a sequence of letters to a sequence of sounds in a word 

Reading accurately at an appropriate rate 

Breadth and depth of word understanding 

 approach has been tried and tested in India. As shown in this resource drawn from Room to Read, India children are given targeted activities to recognize letters, blend letters into words and read.

Exhibit 2: Activities to build reading skills in children

Similarly structured instruction in numeracy progresses from ‘simple to complex’ or ‘known to unknown’[9]. A good way to do this is to follow the 

 approach. For instance, the teaching of addition can be broken in three phases where the learning gradually progresses from the use of concrete objects to pictorial representations and finally the use of symbols. Use of manipulatives (mathematical toys) also ensures that children learn through hands-on experiences and are actively engaged.

Exhibit 3: C-P-A approach for teaching addition

A Tightly-Knit Teacher Toolkit is Needed to Implement Structured Pedagogy

A ‘tightly knit teaching toolkit’, where teachers are provided with an ecosystem of linked teaching-learning resources is essential to implement structured pedagogy in the classroom. Such a toolkit usually include the following critical components:

 This framework sharply defines the scope and sequence of ‘micro’ steps that a child needs to acquire a skill. These steps enable a teacher to clearly pinpoint what to focus their teaching on, and identify precisely at which stage learning breaks down for the child. For example, while learning subtraction, a child broadly follows the learning trajectory outlined below:

Exhibit 4: Snapshot of the Learning Outcomes Framework for Subtraction

Source: CSF- CARE Learning Outcome Framework

Teacher Guides and Structured Lesson Plans:

 A teacher guide contains lesson plans with step-by-step pedagogical routines to guide teachers on conducting effective and engaging lessons linked to the targeted learning outcomes. An effective lesson plan provides a transition from teacher-led to student-led activities in the classroom, notably:

, where the teacher provides ‘direct instruction’ to the students

, where students and teachers work together on the learning material. Teachers also give feedback on the students’ work and clarify their misconceptions

, which gives opportunities for children to apply and reinforce their understanding by solving problems unassisted. As shown in this exemplar lesson plan, teachers find it easy to absorb when the plans are visually engaging, have simple step-by-step instructions, use icons and diagrammatic representations of key conceptual elements. The ‘look and feel’ of these resources should be such that they elicit a feeling of professional pride.

Exhibit 5: A Numeracy Lesson Plan on the ‘I do- We do- You do’ Approach

Student Worksheets & Teaching Learning Materials:

 Worksheets can be used for strengthening concepts through carefully planned guided and independent practice. Worksheets can be designed for 

 to help children practice skills at home, 

 to understand progress and seek corrective action. Along with worksheets, Teaching Learning Materials like mathematical toys, big books, posters, story books should also be provided in the classroom to enhance conceptual understanding, improve motivation and engagement

Exhibit 6: A Numeracy Worksheet to guide independent work in the classroom

 The last and the most critical aspect of the structured pedagogy approach is training and coaching teachers specifically on how to use these materials in the classroom. In-classroom coaching by trained ‘master-teachers’ has been shown to be effective in instilling classroom-specific micro-skills and behavior change in teachers. For example, in the Tusome Program (a successful structured pedagogy intervention for improving early grade literacy in Kenya) teacher-coaches travelled to schools to support teachers. They used a mobile app[10] to record teacher practices, assess student learning and monitor use of instructional resources. This data was then analyzed to provide remedial support to schools.

Exhibit 10: Classroom Observation tool tightly mapped to Teacher Guide book

Source: Tusome by RTI International implemented in Kenya

Impact and Implementation in the Indian Context

School improvement programs using the structured pedagogy approach have demonstrated a measurable and significant impact on student learning, especially in middle- and low-income countries.

[11] This has been reiterated by findings from Papua New Guinea’s randomized Reading Booster Programme[12] and Tusome Early Grade Reading program in Kenya[13]. An important component of the Structured Approach, i.e., teacher guides have also been identified as a cost-effective way to improve learning[14]. In India, non-profit organizations such as Room to Read in Madhya Pradesh and Language and Learning Foundation in Haryana adopted the structured pedagogy approach and have shown strong gains in student learning outcomes[15] in early grade literacy.

Exhibit 11: A review of 216 programmes across 52 LMICs by 3ie indicating that Structured Pedagogy is known to have largest and most consistent impact on student learning

However, for the approach to be effective at a large scale, three critical implementation measures are essential. First, curricula, classroom tools, assessments, and training should be tightly linked and enable a coherent support system for teachers. Second, teacher guides should be mapped to the curriculum and textbooks prescribed by the states to ensure that teachers do not hesitate to use them in the classroom. Third, teacher materials should be easy to understand and provide practical guidance on how to teach in an actual classroom context.

Despite strong research evidence in its support, some misgivings regarding the structured pedagogy approach have hindered its adoption. Some critics argue that structured lesson plans kill a teacher’s autonomy. On the contrary, they reduce the cognitive load of deciding ‘what and how’ to teach, focusing the teacher’s attention instead on which students to work with and what kind of support to provide. Others argue that such approaches promote rote-learning and stunt higher-order skills. By using concept-building activities, guided practice and eliciting student understanding, structured pedagogy strengthens understanding and problem solving. By maximising instructional time, systematically focusing on essential skills, making space for independent work, structured pedagogy is a child centric approach – and not teacher-centric as some fear.

A structured pedagogy approach can be a potent tool to empower and support teachers in India, where teaching skill is variant, training opportunities are fewer, and instructional time is less than required. For far too long, we have blamed teachers for the failures of the Indian education system, labeling them as under-motivated or unskilled. The work of teaching is dismissed as an ‘art form’ that defies scientific definition and rigorous process. These erroneous assumptions only serve to undermine the role of teachers, creating a sense of hopelessness. The adoption of structured pedagogical practices in Indian classrooms will allow us to shift the narrative away from labelling ‘teach-ers’ towards demystifying the act of ‘teach-ing.’

Demystifying the Science of Teaching: A ‘Structured Pedagogy’ Approach to Improving Foundational Learnings

To address these challenges, the Department of School Education, Telangana in collaboration...

“Without data, you’re another person with an opinion” - W. Edwards Deming

This quote emphasises the importance of data and monitoring in decision-making processes across various fields and education is no exception. In the context of school education, monitoring plays a critical role in ensuring delivery of quality education and identifying areas needing improvement. In the Indian context, while monitoring systems do exist in all states, involving government officials in conducting regular visits and inspections to schools, these visits are often not structured and fail to identify and resolve challenges specific to academic performance.

To address these challenges, the Department of School Education, Telangana in collaboration with the Central Square Foundation developed an Integrated Monitoring System to track and review data across inputs, outputs, and outcomes.

As part of Telangana’s FLN Mission Tholimettu (First Step), the monitoring system is designed to provide supportive supervision and mentorship to teachers, empowering them with the right tools and inputs to achieve the desired learning outcomes. In this article, we present the design framework and outcomes of this monitoring system, which includes the use of easy and effective mobile-based monitoring platforms, data analytics for informed decision-making, and a nuanced understanding of the structural and classroom factors in the education system of Telangana. Genesis of FLN Monitoring and Mentoring in Telangana- The Journey

In an effort to promote structured pedagogy, Telangana developed teacher learning material (TLM) that includes lesson plans and teacher guides, and conducted training for all teachers throughout the state in a cascade mode at various levels. However, the department recognised the need to ensure that teachers are using the TLM effectively and receiving sufficient support and feedback to improve the teaching-learning process in their classrooms. To address this, the concept of “Monitoring and Mentoring” was seeded and further translated into action, with a focus on identifying capable individuals within the system, establishing strong processes, and leveraging technology to support the initiative.

The monitoring system’s design framework is based on a nuanced understanding of the structural and classroom factors in the education system of Telangana. The following components were considered to improve governance and state capacity:

Process: designing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the programme’s theory of change and further developing tools, protocols, and reliability mechanisms to measure KPIs.

People: low state capacity in terms of inadequate resources and systemic infirmities contribute significantly to ineffective monitoring. This is something the state has addressed by creating a dedicated team (cadre in government) of monitoring officials from the Headmasters (HMs).

Technology: leveraging technology to facilitate monitoring and assessment processes, including the use of the mobile application/platform and dashboards.

Supportive Supervision In Telangana: An Evidence-Based Approach To Improving Learning Outcomes In Primary Grades

This article looks at Teaching Learning Material (TLM) as the ‘tool’ to improve student learning...

Imagine being asked to prepare a Korean meal. You just have a picture of the meal and a kitchen filled with various ingredients. How will you feel in the absence of:

(i) Recipes that specify which ingredients to use when, and how
(ii) Cooking classes that teach Korean cuisine?

Teachers have multiple responsibilities and are expected to balance complicated socio-emotional classroom interactions, while achieving high cognitive outcomes. The complexity of the job is often accompanied by the lack of support needed to perform the job: absence of quality tools and inadequate pre and in-service 

 approach equips teachers with the right techniques, tools, and training, providing them with much-needed support. Research shows that it has the largest and most consistent impact on student learning in low and middle-income 


Figure 1: Structured pedagogy knits classroom resources with Teacher Professional Development and Academic Support to provide comprehensive support to teachers.

, also known as Teaching Learning Material (TLM), are a set of classroom resources that assist the teacher in delivering instructions and help students actively engage with learning.

Just 14% of Indian classrooms employ instructional resources other than 

. Most textbooks often offer no direction on teaching and might not be developed to satisfy the needs of student 

. This often leads to classrooms where teaching limits to a teacher’s monologue with negligible student participation.

Unfortunately, even in contexts where TLMs exist, 

standardized degrees of difficulty, and no connection

A well-equipped classroom has both teacher and student-facing material.

Figure 2: An example Teacher-facing TLM on LHS and Student Facing Material on RHS (Source: CIP, CSF)

High-quality TLM follow key design principles that ensure efficient usage in the classroom.

The 3 Cs of ‘right’ teacher-facing tools: Content, Convenience, and Connection

Effective teacher-facing materials should be a one-stop destination for all the teacher’s needs, thereby reducing their cognitive load. An example of one such tool is teacher guides.

 by RTI shows greater fidelity to high-quality teachers’ guides enhances the standard of instruction. But what actually goes into making a quality teacher guide?

i) A scope and sequence of learning that informs the teacher what and when to teach
ii) Structured daily lesson plans with clear, explicit instructions on how to teach
ii) A navigator that tells teachers how to use the teacher Guide

Figure 3: Parts of Navigator (Left to right): i) How to use the teacher guide on a daily and weekly basis ii) Learning Outcomes for the academic year iii) A precise teaching trajectory for the academic year’s duration to achieve the decided learning outcomes (Source: Literacy Teacher guide created for UP state by Language and Learning Foundation {LLF}).

: You can create the best content based on the scientific principles of pedagogy and research, but teachers will only use it if they find it easier to use than existing alternatives. The format of the teacher guide should make it lightweight and easy to read.

Figure 4: Lesson Plans have icons for micro-routines to build ‘habits’ for teachers and to make the handbook easy to navigate. (Source: CIP, CSF)

Figure 5: Lesson Plan with detailed instructions for the teacher (Source: Numeracy lesson plan created for UP state by Vikramshila Education Resource Society)

 A teacher embarks on a scavenger hunt each day, trying to stitch multiple disconnected materials like textbooks and student workbooks. A teacher guide should explicitly link all the teacher and student-facing material. Daily learning objectives can act as one such primary key to link the TLM.

Figure 6: Learning Outcome connects the lesson plan with the worksheet ( Source: CSF Public Goods)


The ‘right’ student-facing tools: Facilitating shift from rote memorization to competency-based learning

Learning occurs only when children actively engage in the learning process. Student-facing materials such as workbooks, classroom prints, and math manipulatives make teaching learner-oriented by facilitating student engagement.

A well-designed worksheet provides an opportunity for students to showcase what they have learned and for teachers to identify struggling learners. In order to be effective, worksheets must be:

: The content should be familiar to a child’s context to ensure that questions engage students

: Each worksheet should start with one worked-out example, followed by questions that progress in terms of their difficulty levels.

Figure 7: Elements of a well-designed worksheet (Source: CSF CARE Worksheet)


While worksheets serve as proof of learning, the materials listed below enhance student participation during the lesson:

: A print-rich environment in the form of word/ number walls, storybooks, and posters assists in the development of print awareness

: A set of Manipulatives helps children ‘see’ abstract mathematical concepts, thereby improving procedural understanding

: Flashcards and learning grids are effective in acquiring fundamental skills and concepts

 Leveled readers are usually provided as a series of books— each with a standalone story or informational text with illustrations—and are intentionally targeted at different levels of reading difficulty

Figure 8: Some essential TLM that give the students a chance to learn by doing (Source: CIP-CSF)

These materials should have the following design elements besides the ones suggested for the workbooks above:

 Stories, illustrations, and topics familiar to a child’s context and cultural background and inclusive in nature. 

 Can be sourced easily from the environment or locally created by the teacher

 Placing illustrations with the text in readers, using a large font, and limiting the words per sentence/line/page.(See figure 9) 

Figure 9: This example illustrates the use of a large font to draw attention, a colorful and engaging illustration, and an appropriate amount of text (four lines) on the page (Source: A Pupil book developed as part of the Nigeria Reading and Access Research Activity, RTI)


TLM are the ‘tools’ needed to improve learning. However, classrooms today have become a graveyard of multiple, incoherent resources that end up confusing a teacher rather than equipping her to teach better. For TLMs to actually be utilised, it’s important to design them by following the best practices and scientific evidence. Well-designed TLM coupled with training and ongoing support can enable teachers to succeed in the classroom every day to raise learning outcomes for every child.

How to design effective FLN Teaching Learning Material (TLM)?

If a doctor cannot prescribe medicines without gathering, interpreting, and diagnosing...

If a doctor cannot prescribe medicines without gathering, interpreting, and diagnosing a patient’s health concerns—why is the equivalent of this acceptable in education ?

Teachers don’t have the time, tools, or capabilities to regularly gauge the learning levels of students and tailor their support accordingly which is why many students often get left behind. Assessment-Informed Instruction (A-i-i) is that missing link which helps teachers identify “where students are” and “how best to move them to their intended destination” through the modification of teaching and learning activities in the classroom. It involves supporting teachers with a step-by-step guide integrated within the teaching-learning materials with regular checkpoints to assess the learning levels of students and instructions tailored according to the students’ responses.

Assessment-Informed Instruction (A-i-i) is that missing link which helps teachers identify “where students are” and “how best to move them to their intended destination” through the modification of teaching and learning activities in the classroom.

Many education systems around the globe have undertaken some form of assessment-led reform to measure student learning outcomes, yet only measurement of learning is not sufficient. For assessment to inform instruction and improve learning outcomes, it must be followed by action. Hence, it is essential to support teachers in customizing classroom instruction practices based on the learning needs of the students.

Though the central actor to drive A-i-i in the classroom is the teacher, successful integration of A-i-i in the classroom would depend on how well education practitioners support the teacher to package A-i-i within the following four pillars of the program: (1) Teaching-Learning Materials (TLMs), (2) Teacher Professional Development (TPD), (3) Academic Support, and (4) Program Design and Systems.

How can education practitioners support teachers to use A-i-i to improve learning in their classrooms?

A-i-i requires teachers to identify students’ learning needs and make real-time instructional decisions based on students’ responses. Hence, practitioners developing teaching-learning materials must ensure that the teachers are supported with a step-by-step pedagogical routine to integrate A-i-i at various stages of instruction. In addition, the instructional tools must have checkpoints within a lesson to check for students’ understanding and suggestions to make this possible.

CSF, in collaboration with its academic partners in Mission Prerna, Uttar Pradesh (Language and Learning Foundation and Vikramshila Education Resource Society) and Mission Ankur, Madhya Pradesh (Room to Read and Sol’s Arc), has embedded the elements of assessment-informed-instruction (A-i-i) in the lesson plans, worksheets, and weekly structure, contributing towards reform in instructional routine and teacher practices.

Teachers vary in their capability to understand the purpose of assessment and apply various assessment strategies in the classroom. Accordingly, a dedicated training module is needed to orient teachers on the materials as per the program design of the implementation partner. Teachers who may be new to A-i-i might not understand that A-i-i isn’t equal to conducting assessments or filling trackers. Others may confuse A-i-i with just assessing more frequently. Hence, it becomes vital to clarify teachers’ misconceptions and build their knowledge, skills, and mindset to generate buy-in to A-i-i.

Together with forming academic support for teachers—trainers and coaches play a crucial role in bridging the gap between teachers’ prior experiences and A-i-i practices, ensuring effective implementation of A-i-i in the classroom. While teacher-training/TPD can be used as a ‘how-to-use’ layer for A-i-i practices in TLMs, the coaching-mentoring can be used to check if teachers are able to effectively implement A-i-i strategies inside the classroom. Additionally, as coaches/mentors have multiple touchpoints with teachers through classroom observation, the academic support cadre can ensure teachers receive regular feedback and practice on A-i-i.

To successfully embed A-i-i within the program design and system, program leaders must provide structures that enable teachers to absorb A-i-i practices into habit change. There are multiple ways to build a pedagogical routine—it can be at a weekly level, provide an overall structure of the week, allocate particular days for assessment, and support students based on the assessment results. For instance, Language and Learning Foundation in Haryana embeds a dedicated 4+1+1 weekly structure: classroom instruction on Day 1-4, weekly assessment on Day 5, and remediation on Day 6. Teachers are supported by having this structure in the teacher guide, and it maps to the corresponding worksheets in the student workbook to be used every week.

To supply more details on the above recommendations, CSF is releasing a Practitioner’s Guide to embedding A-i-i, which serves as a last-mile solution for education stakeholders in this critical global agenda. The first half of the guide lists recommended interventions for each actor of A-i-i—instructional and curriculum designers, teachers, trainers, coaches and mentors, program leaders, and government. The second half of the guide summarizes best practices and evidence of the recommendations from around the world.

Finally, while there are localized examples of assessment-informed instruction used successfully in low-and middle-income countries, more needs to be understood about how to scale these interventions to ensure that assessment-informed instruction happens more often and across whole systems, to improve learning outcomes for children around the world. The next milestone for us, as education practitioners, is to strengthen our programs by embedding A-i-i approaches within the existing systems to support teachers in improving their teaching.

Assessment-Informed Instruction-101: A Guide for Practitioners

Children in our country are not learning. 

Re-visiting the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of educating children during and after the pandemic

Children in our country are not learning. The National Education Policy 2020 states that even before the pandemic, more than 50 million primary grade children in India struggled to read simple texts or do basic math. The learning crisis has only worsened with schooling disrupted for as many as 250 million children across the country due to Covid-19. For a year of school closures, children currently in Grade 3 will be almost 3 years behind from where they could have been when they reach grade 10, had the pandemic not happened[1].

 in International Journal of Development on Building Back Better

Historically, the curriculum in our country has been overambitious, and children failed to cover it even during normal times[2]. This leads to low rates of achievement of foundational skills and the gap only widens as students progress through higher grades, resulting in dropouts or students graduating without attaining mastery of basics. Even though the RTE mandates 220 days of instruction in a normal year, a 2015-16 study reveals that teachers spend only 19.1% of this time teaching[3] due to being burdened by additional non-teaching work. This further reduces the time available for completing the existing curriculum, almost turning it into a checklist exercise as opposed to helping children learn more meaningfully.

As schools reopen across India, there is a possibility of instructional time being further reduced due to unforeseen future disruptions and rotational attendance. With students now losing almost two years of schooling, there is a pressure to accelerate learning and help students ‘catch up’ with grade-level outcomes. Unfortunately, this could result in packing up two years’ worth of learning into a short-term remediation program which might not be a sustainable solution.

Why short-term remediation is not the answer

A child’s working memory is like a funnel, with the stem growing narrower due to a lack of structured learning and social interactions during the pandemic. Compressing two years’ worth of learning in a short span will only break this funnel. We need to slow down the pace of learning so as to not overwhelm children as they return to school, and prioritize learning only crucial things and learning them well. The pandemic has affected children differently, and we need to be cognizant of the fact that coming to school is not routine for them anymore.

Curriculum designers must prioritize learning outcomes that are essential for a child’s learning in the future and accordingly redesign the curriculum. This will enable teachers and students to focus on fundamental skills for each grade and reduce the pressure on teachers to complete the curriculum in a compressed time frame. Additionally, and most importantly, learning must be spread over the next few years to give children time to catch up with 

The Accelerated Education Working group (AEWG) recommends three guiding principles[4] to condense a curriculum:

 focus on knowledge and skills that learners will need throughout their lives

 focus on knowledge and skills that can be used across multiple subject areas

 focus on knowledge and skills learners need to be successful in the next level of instruction

How Vikramshila-CSF taught less and taught well: Case Study in Numeracy from Uttar Pradesh

These principles were put into action by the Vikramshila Education Society in partnership with Central Square Foundation (CSF) to identify what learning outcomes should be prioritized in numeracy for grades 1-3 in Uttar Pradesh.

The first step involved breaking down the existing learning outcomes into ‘highly targeted’ learning objectives that can be taught in one or two 40 minute long instructional periods. This helps identify the steps needed to achieve the targeted learning outcomes and promotes depth of understanding.

Fig 2: Example of learning outcomes from NCERT on subtracting using numbers 1 to 9

Based on the total available instructional time, the targeted learning objectives were then prioritized in four different ways:

Excluding outcomes that are non-critical:

 Learning outcomes that are fundamental to the current grade can be prioritized over the learning outcomes that are taught in isolation in the next grade.
e.g.: ‘Measurement of length using standard units’ deprioritized for grade 2 and moved to grade 3

Reducing the overall rigor of a learning outcome:

 Prioritization can be done by reducing the range/limit of the numbers that students work with, focusing on mastery within the range rather than exposure to a larger range.
e.g.: Students works with 2-digit numbers in Number Sense & Operations instead of 3-digit numbers in grade 3

Merging the range of numbers students work within a learning outcome:

 While including the learning outcomes from a lower grade level is essential to ensure students have a conceptual understanding of critical topics, they can be taught in an accelerated manner by merging a range of numbers.
e.g: grade 2 students begin number recognition and counting from 1-20 instead of 1-5

Merging of learning outcomes in application & practice:

 Opportunities where learning outcomes can be mapped across domains can be taken advantage of. Instances where students practice skills using concepts of money, length, capacity or measurement, can be merged with learning outcomes dedicated to practising operations. This would also provide students a good opportunity of mixed practice and create lasting connections across topics.
e.g: learning outcomes on word problems for operations and word problems for money are merged.

This exercise helped the curriculum designers reduce the total number of core learning outcomes in each grade by roughly 50% without compromising on fundamental learning. The entire curriculum for the grade can be covered in 100 days including time for revision which makes it much more feasible in the current context.

Identifying what to teach is only half the battle won. In order to teach well, it is important to regularly assess children and identify their learning levels. Teachers can use information from assessments to modify their instruction according to the needs of the children.

Following is an illustration of the weekly learning structure designed by the curriculum team at Vikramshila Education Resource Society (VERS) to help teachers constantly identify how much children have learned and subsequently, remediate accordingly. The structure gives adequate time to children to practice what they have learned, moving away from curriculum completion to actual learning.

Few experts believe that restructuring the curriculum will lead to children missing out on critical learning. But the current pace of our curriculum has anyway left almost half of our children behind[6]. We need to reevaluate what is actually worth learning and go deep into that to ensure all children are able to learn and learn well.

 on “Modeling the Long-Run Learning Impact of the COVID-19 Learning Shock: Actions to (More Than) Mitigate Loss”

The solution to learning loss and helping children catch up is not compressing the curriculum to a remediation program of a couple of months. The pandemic has presented us with an opportunity to step back and think about how we educate our children. A restructured curriculum to mitigate the learning loss could serve as a benchmark for the future of our education system; a system that recognizes the needs of every child and helps them learn at their pace.

(Credits to Vikramshila Education Resource Society[7] for their framework.)

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