Proficiency in first language makes it easier to acquire a second: Banerji

Children begin to fall behind early in their educational careers, suggesting that children who enter school are not ready to deal with what is expected of them in early grades

Rukmini Banerji, CEO of Pratham Education Foundation, tells Aditi Phadnis the New Education Policy will help bridge the gap between education and learning. Edited excerpts:

Pratham has done exhaustive work on the quality of school education. How far does the NEP address this issue?

Over the past 15 years, the Pratham-facilitated Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has pointed out that school enrolment levels in India are well over 95 per cent, but the level of basic reading and arithmetic has remained consistently and worryingly low. Children begin to fall behind early in their educational careers, suggesting that children who