Equity at the margins: Reframing foundational learning in India

• In Event: Gender, Equity, and Education for Peace in a Divided World

Proposal

India’s NIPUN Bharat mission has an ambitious goal: to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by 2026–27. While aggregate progress suggests improvement, substantial disparities persist across regions and subgroups. ASER data (2018, 2022 & 2024) indicates that in districts with tribal and linguistic minority communities, fewer than 5% of children in grades 3 to 5, on average, can read a grade 2 text, compared to more than 60% in higher-performing districts, a 55 percentage-point gap (LLF, 2025). Such wide disparities are not incidental; they reflect the compounded effect of disadvantages faced by marginalized children. This intersection of marginalization - lower socioeconomic status, language disadvantage, indigenous tribal identities, remote locations, seasonal migration, poorly resourced schools, and low teacher availability - reinforces a cycle of low attendance and learning.

Language and Learning Foundation (LLF), a non-profit focused on improving foundational learning, especially for marginalised children, works in collaboration with ten state governments in India. LLF’s work on equitable learning includes initiatives for remedial teaching, multilingual education, gender-responsive programming. LLF has also initiated a multi-study research agenda examining drivers of persistent inequities in FLN. This paper will present emerging insights from two studies that reframe equity in FLN by shifting attention to the learning trajectories of children persistently located at the margins of classroom achievement.

The Teacher Professional Development for Equity (TPD4E) study, conducted with the University of Pennsylvania, investigates whether embedding equity-focused principles in teacher training generates sustained gains for the lowest-performing quartile. The study identifies “m-children” (marginalized children), consistently in the bottom 25% of achievement, and analyzes both classroom (teacher training, classroom strategies, instructional materials) and out-of-classroom factors (poverty, caste, home resources). Employing a quasi-experimental design with Grade 3 cohorts, baseline findings suggest that teacher attitudes toward marginalized learners and the equity orientation of school leaders are significant, yet often overlooked, in-school levers influencing student outcomes, particularly for girls and children from marginalised groups.

The Learning in the Margins study extends this inquiry by examining why some children are not learning adequately or very little despite efforts to introduce engaging teaching-learning practices and ongoing remediation. Utilizing a two-stage mixed-methods design, the study first identifies students in Grades 2–3 consistently performing in the bottom quartile, then narrows to a subset for deeper analysis. Quantitative data are integrated with qualitative fieldwork, including household surveys, parent and teacher interviews, and classroom observations, to examine how school-based dynamics (pedagogical practices, peer interactions) intersect with out-of-school realities (migration, gender norms, poverty) to produce sustained academic under-achievement. This analysis highlights the heterogeneity within low-performing cohorts and provides a foundation for interventions that address structural barriers rather than symptomatic outcomes.

Together, these studies demonstrate how practitioner-led inquiry can inform systemic approaches to equity. The implications extend beyond India: as education systems globally grapple with entrenched inequities, the studies offer insights and strategies that can improve learning for the most disadvantaged children. By centering marginalized learners and equity in professional practice, this paper underscores that equity is not only a moral imperative but also a pathway to resilience and social cohesion.

Authors

• Shivakshi Rana, Language and Learning Foundation

• Dhir Jhingran, Language and Learning Foundation