Program to Improve Private Early Education (PIPE)

Most Children Entering Grade 1 Are Not School Ready

Fifty-four percent of children entering Grade 1 could not pick out 12 sticks from a stack of 20, and 78 percent could not read 3 simple 3-letter words.
Children responding to addition questions.

FSG assessed 480 students entering Grade 1 in affordable private schools (APSs) and government schools across 4 Indian cities to measure their school readiness. The modified International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA) tool was used to conduct assessments across 25+ schools in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mumbai.

Children entering Grade 1 or aged 5+ should be able to identify and correctly count numbers up to 20, conduct simple addition and subtraction operations, complete a 4-12 piece jigsaw puzzle, and begin to read simple words and sentences. However:

  • Fifty-four percent of children could not count 12 sticks from a stack of 20 sticks
  • Eighty-two percent  could not complete a 4-piece puzzle
  • Seventy-eight percent could not read 3 simple 3-letter English words
  • Eighty percent of children could write their own name, hence motor development is not a significant problem for most children

Results for students entering Grade 1 in government schools were just as poor as those in APSs. 

Learn more about the results on school readiness of Indian children in APSs and government schools here.

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