Two-day national conference on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy begins in Pune

Pune (Maharashtra) [India], June 17 (ANI): Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi on Saturday inaugurated the multimedia Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Exhibition in Pune.

Over 100 exhibitors, including Google, UNICEF, NSDC, NCERT, National Book Trust, Indian Knowledge Systems Division (IKS), startup initiatives and all State Governments participated in the exhibition.
The exhibition will be open to local institutions, students, academicians and researchers from June 17-22, 2023, except on June 19, 2023.

On the occasion, Union MoS, Ministry of Education, Annapurna Devi delivered the inaugural address at the conference.

Speaking on the occasion Annapurna Devi highlighted the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy i.e. NIPUN Bharat Mission, which emphasizes the need to attain Foundational Literacy and Numeracy goals nationally in a time-bound (2026-27) manner.

Union Minister talked about how this conference provides a great opportunity to identify and discuss the best practices states are adopting in creating an environment that facilitates foundational literacy and numeracy in young learners.

She also highlighted the benefits from the wisdom of experts who shared their invaluable knowledge and experience.

MoS education Annapurna Devi said, “G20 Education Working Group meetings have helped share some of the best practices from across the globe in the areas of Tech-enabled learning, skilling and future of work, and strengthening research and promoting innovation.”

“Present Working Group Meeting is an opportune moment to organise various events to create more awareness on India’s G20 presidency as well as renew our resolve towards universal attainment of FLN skills,” she said.

On the occassion, Chandrakant Patil, Higher and technical education minister highlighted Multilingualism as the key that empowers us to navigate through the growing diversity of our world.

“There is a need to teach our young generation the skills to choose the right path in this multilingual world while recognizing their own diverse linguistic backgrounds, as talked about extensively in the National Education Policy, 2020,” he said.

At the event, Sanjay Kumar Secretary School Education and Literacy lauded the precursory event of the G20 Working Group meeting, the large-scale Janghabidari events, all over the country that created widespread awareness of FLN, NEP, and G20 in India, a movement that has touched more than 4 crores people in the country.

The exhibition showcased the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam and Jharkhand presenting the best practices in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy of respective states.