India, April 15 -- Absorb the following statements fully : 75% of Class 3 students cannot read text that should be readable by a grade below (Grade 2 level). Just below 50% of Class 5 students cannot read a Grade 2 level text. A little over 20% of Class 8 students cannot read a Grade 2 level text. This is the state of affairs after 78 years of India's Independence and five years after the New Education policy, 2020 came into effect for its government school educated students.

The situation is almost identical for mathematics. Two out of three Class 3 students were still unable to solve the subtraction problems correctly. Among Class 5 students, the proportion of those who could solve the division problems has improved from 27.9% in 2018 ...