HYDERABAD: Telangana has recorded significant improvement in foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) outcomes, with the latest State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) assessment showing sharp gains in English reading and basic mathematics since 2022 among Class 2 government school students.
The study was conducted between February 25 and 27 this year, and it covered around 8,500 students from nearly 1,750 government schools across all 33 districts, evaluating children in Telugu, Urdu, English and Mathematics. The findings indicate progress over both the baseline year 2022–23 and the previous assessment year 2024–25, particularly in higher-order competencies such as sentence reading, addition and subtraction, areas seen as critical to achieving universal foundational learning, as English recorded the sharpest rise.
According to the FLN report, English emerged as the fastest-improving subject, with sentence reading levels rising from just four in every 100 students in 2022 to 29 in every 100 students in the current academic year (2025–26). Similarly, in mathematics, addition with carry-over improved from 18% to 43% during the same period, more than doubling in three years. Subtraction with borrowing, considered a more difficult competency, rose from 10% to 30%, registering a threefold increase. Among districts, Peddapalli, Narayanpet, Wanaparthy, Jangaon and Khammam emerged as the top performers in the state.
A senior SCERT official said, “The annual assessment, conducted since 2022–23, has become a key instrument for measuring learning outcomes and shaping academic interventions. The exercise was conducted using the EGRA-EGMA methodology, with one-to-one digital assessments administered by trained field investigators from DIETs and B.Ed colleges. With the latest gains, the state has set a target of achieving 80% benchmark proficiency in foundational learning over the next two to three years. The goal is to ensure eight out of every 10 children in early grades can read sentences and solve basic arithmetic problems correctly.”
“The findings will be used to strengthen teacher training, set district-level targets and monitor progress through the academic year 2026–27,” he added.
This story has been written by Meghna Nath.