Context

• India is facing a significant learning crisis, as repeatedly highlighted by the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER).
• Despite some recent improvements and strong policy initiatives focused on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), the issue has not generated the urgency required at the grassroots level.
• This disconnect between policy intent and on-ground action raises an important question: why does a crisis of such scale fail to provoke immediate response?
• A key explanation lies in the concept of salience, the extent to which a problem is recognised, prioritised, and acted upon by society.

Understanding Salience in Public Policy

• Salience plays a crucial role in determining whether policies translate into real change.
• Systems evolve not merely through well-designed frameworks or increased funding, but when stakeholders collectively acknowledge the importance of an issue and take responsibility for addressing it.
• An illustrative example is Vietnam. Research by the RISE Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government found that Vietnam achieved strong learning outcomes despite limited resources.
• The key factor was a shared societal commitment to education, what researchers described as a collective wanting to.
• In contrast, India’s efforts, though supported by policies such as the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN Bharat Mission, have yet to fully translate into widespread urgency at the local level.

The Gap Between Policy Intent and Ground Reality

• While policy frameworks in India clearly prioritise FLN, their impact is diluted at the field level.
• School management discussions and parent-teacher interactions often focus on infrastructure issues, such as buildings, sanitation, and teacher shortages, rather than on actual learning outcomes.
• This indicates that learning, as a goal, has not yet become a central concern for communities and local institutions.

Factors Contributing to Low Salience

• Intangibility of Learning Outcomes
  • Learning is difficult to observe directly. Unlike visible issues such as poor infrastructure, a lack of comprehension can remain hidden.
  • Classroom practices may create an illusion of learning, and concepts like oral reading fluency are not widely understood, leading to underestimation of the problem.
• Weak Accountability Structures
  • Children lack voice, and many parents are unable to effectively evaluate learning. Decision-making remains centralised, while local bodies have limited influence.
  • Additionally, the migration of the middle class to private schooling reduces pressure on public institutions.
• Underestimation of the Crisis Scale
  • Even informed stakeholders often fail to grasp the magnitude of the problem. Data indicating low learning levels can be surprising or dismissed, preventing the mobilisation of adequate responses.
• Misalignment of Responsibility
  • There is a widespread perception that while schooling is the state’s responsibility, learning depends on the child or family.
  • This belief undermines the importance of systemic factors such as teaching quality, curriculum design, and institutional support.
• Psychological and Political Barriers
  • Acknowledging the crisis is difficult for educators and policymakers who have focused on expanding access to schooling.
  • Politically, admitting widespread learning deficits can carry risks, leading to reluctance in openly addressing the issue.
• Prevailing Fatalism
  • A sense of inevitability often surrounds systemic challenges, discouraging efforts for change. However, evidence suggests that improvement is both possible and achievable.

The Way Forward: Building Salience

• One effective approach is conducting local-level assessments that allow parents and officials to directly observe children’s learning levels.
• This transforms the issue from an abstract concept into a tangible reality.
• Furthermore, it is essential to clearly communicate the scale of the problem and highlight proven solutions.
• Interventions such as Teaching at the Right Level and structured pedagogy have demonstrated significant success in improving foundational learning outcomes.
• Equally important is creating systems of accountability that ensure those responsible for delivery are motivated to act.
• Strengthening community engagement and empowering local institutions can help generate bottom-up pressure for change.

Conclusion

• India’s learning crisis is not merely a failure of policy or resources, but a failure of collective prioritisation.
• Without sufficient salience, even the most well-designed initiatives struggle to achieve impact.
• The path forward lies in ensuring that learning outcomes become a shared societal priority.
• Only when communities, educators, and policymakers recognise the urgency of the issue and act collectively can meaningful and sustained improvements in education be realised.