Chennai, Feb 16 (IANS): Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Elementary Education (DEE) will roll out a statewide "100-day challenge" from the third week of February to strengthen foundational learning skills among students of Classes 1 to 5 across the state.
The initiative, aimed at enhancing reading and arithmetic proficiency, builds on the success of a pilot programme conducted during the 2024–25 academic year.
In the earlier phase, the Tamil and English reading skills of students from 4,552 primary schools were assessed.
Their basic arithmetic abilities -- including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division -- were also evaluated using a structured assessment tool developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), in collaboration with teacher trainers from regional resource centres.
Encouraged by the positive response and measurable improvement in learning outcomes, the department has now proposed to expand the programme significantly.
More than 14,000 schools are expected to participate in the 2025–26 academic year, covering a much larger pool of primary school children who are deemed ready to take up the challenge.
A senior department official said the 100-day open challenge, initially launched in December 2024 for Tamil, English and Mathematics, had yielded encouraging results.
"The programme was introduced as a focused intervention alongside existing academic initiatives in schools. It not only supported classroom teaching but also helped improve students’ reading fluency and basic computational skills in a structured manner," the official noted.
The concept of the 100-day challenge reportedly took shape following an interaction between School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and students of T. Pudur Panchayat Union Primary School in November 2024 after the school’s headmistress, K. Valarmati, had invited him to observe students’ learning levels firsthand.
The visit highlighted the need for sustained, time-bound academic interventions to address foundational learning gaps at the primary level.
With its expansion this year, the programme is expected to reinforce the state's focus on strengthening early grade literacy and numeracy. Education officials said systematic monitoring and regular assessments would continue during the 100-day period to ensure measurable progress in student learning outcomes across participating schools.
--IANS
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