Identifying a Transformative Agenda for Literacy

This commentary examines the conceptualisation and implementation of literacy in India with a specific focus on the shift from access-oriented frameworks to primarily outcome-based approaches. While this reorientation has expanded the access to literacy, it has at the same time narrowed the scope of the domain away from a transformative agenda of literacy. One of the concerns framed for this shift is that overreliance on standardisation often leads to rigid benchmarks and fosters a test-oriented culture reverberating global accountability policies. In the Indian context, this may further lead to marginalisation of learners from diverse sociocultural-linguistic backgrounds and local knowledge systems. In order to ensure equitable literacy learning, it is imperative to focus on the pedagogical ecosystem and structural issues to ensure literacy learning for all.