Jan 29, 2024
Pratham praised for helping to 'bridge the data gap' on early-grade literacy and numeracy on UNESCO’s World Education Blog
Director of Research at the ASER Centre, Dr Suman Bhattacharjea has co-authored a blog post with Chair of the Board of Directors at the PAL Network, Ariel Fiszbein for UNESCO’s World Education Blog, addressing the scarcity of internationally comparable data on early-grade literacy and numeracy.
In the blog post they highlight the efforts of organisations like the Pratham Education Foundation and PAL Network, emphasising initiatives such as the Annual Status of Education Report and Citizen-Led Assessments to bridge this data gap.
The authors write: “In 2019, supported by a Knowledge and Innovation Exchange global grant, PAL Network, Pratham Education Foundation in India and the Australian Council for Educational Research began work on developing the next entrant to the PAL toolkit of common assessments. While the International Common Assessment of Numeracy mirrored the original Citizen-Led Assessments’ vision of assessing foundational skills among school-aged children (age group 5-16), the Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy Assessment focuses on children in the age group of 4-10 years. Looking specifically at children’s acquisition of pre and foundational literacy and numeracy skills in the period that bridges the Sustainable Development Goal 8 target 4.2 (early childhood education) and Sustainable Development Goal indicator 4.1.1a (grades 2/3 of primary education).”