The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 identifies Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) as the most critical learning priority of the early school years, recognizing that children who do not acquire these skills face compounding challenges throughout their education. The NIPUN Axom Mission has provided a strong framework for supporting children in the Foundational Stage (Grades I and II). Nationally representative assessments have consistently shown that a substantial proportion of children in Grades III to V are still consolidating basic reading and numeracy skills, pointing to the need for continued, targeted support beyond the Foundational Stage.
The Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach is designed for this purpose. Rather than anchoring instruction solely to the grade-level curriculum, TaRL begins from each child's demonstrated learning level and builds foundational competencies through structured, activity-based instruction. The approach involves:
• Assessing children at the outset to understand their current learning levels.
• Grouping students by learning need, to enable focused and peer-supported learning.
• Delivering targeted, activity-based instruction matched to each group's level.
• Monitoring progress through regular assessments, with instruction adjusted accordingly.
The State Government, in collaboration with Pratham Education Foundation, is implementing the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) intervention for students in Grades III to V. The approach has been evaluated through randomized controlled trials and has shown consistent gains in foundational reading and numeracy outcomes across multiple Indian states. The objective is to ensure that every child in Grades III to V is able to read with comprehension and perform basic mathematical operations with confidence, enabling fuller participation in grade-level learning.
Capacity Building Programmes for TaRL Implementation
State Level: A 5-Day State Level Training Programme was conducted for Key Resource Persons (KRPs) from 24th March to 28th March, 2025 at the State Mission Office, Samagra Shiksha, Assam. A total of 100 KRPs were trained (68 from Samagra Shiksha and 32 from the Pratham Education Foundation). After the training at the state level, KRPs completed a minimum no. of 15 days of practice teaching at school. KRPs later co-facilitated the RPs training sessions in pairs at the zonal level.
Zonal Level: A 5-Day Zonal Level Training of Resource Persons (RPs) was conducted from 26th May to 30th May, 2025, at 16 zones covering 1,953 RPs. These trained RPs were also engaged at schools for a minimum of 15 days of Practice Teaching.
Block Level: Block-level training of Teachers was conducted in two batches –Batch-1(5th to 8th August, 2025) and Batch-2 (18th to 21st Aug, 2025), covering 41,196 teachers.
Resources support for TaRL Activities
For the effective implementation of this initiative, a structured Teacher manual has been provided to schools conducting TaRL activities. The learning materials developed under the NIPUN AXOM (FLN) Programme are being used to facilitate TaRL activities. In addition, to strengthen language learning, a storybook titled 'KAHINI' has been distributed to all students of Grades III to V.
A few snapshots of practice teaching, including group activities at the school level:
