PANAJI
In a first-of-its-kind initiative to systematically assess foundational learning outcomes across the State, the Goa State Council of Educational Research and Training (GSCERT) will launch the Goa Foundational Learning Survey (GFLS) for students of Grades I and II from the current academic year.
The State-level survey will be conducted twice every academic year – once in October and again in March-April, to assess whether children are acquiring age – appropriate foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) skills in reading, writing and mathematics during the early years of schooling.
“The Goa Foundational Learning Survey (GFLS) is a state-level assessment initiative undertaken to measure the foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) competencies of young learners in the early grades,” SCERT director Meghana Shetgaonkar told The Goan.
The initiative is aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) and the Centre's NIPUN Bharat Mission (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy), launched in 2021 to ensure that every child attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade III.
Under the mission, SCERT will assess children's reading and numeracy competencies to identify learning gaps and provide targeted academic support, with the GFLS serving as Goa's state-level mechanism for this purpose. As per SCERT, the survey will function as a diagnostic assessment, enabling teachers and schools to identify learning gaps at an early stage and plan timely interventions. “Conducting the assessment twice during the academic year will also help monitor students' progress and measure improvements in learning outcomes,” SCERT said. The NCF-FS, introduced under NEP 2020, advocates competency-based learning, play-based pedagogy and continuous assessment during the foundational years. The GFLS is expected to generate baseline and endline data on foundational learning levels while strengthening classroom teaching strategies across the State. Meanwhile, the Grades 1 and 2, internal assessment will be conducted only in the core curricular areas of R1, R2 (languages) and Mathematics. No formal assessment will be carried out for other holistic learning subjects, which will continue to be taught through experiential, activity-based and play-based pedagogical approaches to support the overall development of children.
