At the India International Centre, a two-day Synergy Summit with the topic “A Paradigm Shift in FLN: Making India Literate in Months, not Years,” was held. COVID has reversed years of educational progress. Over 70% of 10-year-olds after COVID school closures lack the FLN (Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) abilities, according to UNICEF. The Synergy Summit’s theme, A Paradigm Shift in FLN: Making India Literate in Months, not Years, is a call to action against this background. The two-day Synergy Summit brought together the leaders of numerous significant CSR, NGOs, Embassies, Schools, Universities, and the Government for the first time and at one location to collectively tackle India’s largest educational challenges.
Rajnath Singh, the honourable defence minister of India, was the chief guest on the opening day of the two-day summit. Hon. Shri Rajnath Singh “It was high time to gather all the stakeholders to the same table to seek revolutionary answers to the enormous problems of fundamental literacy and numeracy,” declared the minister of defence. The literacy crisis can only worsen without strategic thought and without seriously disruptive solutions. Today’s third-grade students have just recently attended school. Before the COVID, Grade 3 students lost the majority of their knowledge. Therefore, the great majority of kids in the elementary grades require immediate assistance. We cannot leave the instructors to handle this serious situation on their own. The entire community must be motivated, and all facets of society must cooperate. All hands must be on deck as FLN must be regarded as an emergency.
He complimented Dr. Sunita Gandhi, a former economist for The World Bank and founder of DEVI Sansthan, for her pioneering work in the FLN and for developing the new Global Dream ALfA or Accelerating Learning for All approach. “India needs extremely innovative solutions, like ALfA Global Dream, to close the learning gap in 90 days,” he said. Even after five years of education, the old approaches have utterly failed to build the fundamental abilities. I am happy that ALfA is now being used in Shamli in Uttar Pradesh and Sambalpur in Orissa, two of the ten Lowest Performing Districts in India. Every child has to receive ALfA education immediately, just like they do with COVID.
A book by Dr. Sunita Gandhi called Disruptive Literacy, A Roadmap for Urgent Global Action was also released on the first day of the event. The book emphasises that significant advancements and breakthroughs are possible through the three pillars of a) a nationwide mass movement in which all stakeholders must participate, from students to government officials at all levels, like in the pulse polio campaign, b) government commitment to such a movement, and c) through transformative curricula and processes of teaching and learning that allow both young and old volunteers and all teachers to get involved.