West Bengal on top, Uttar Pradesh at bottom of index for literacy among children below 10 years

West Bengal maintained its lead while Uttar Pradesh stood at the bottom among large state categories on the second edition of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Index 2022, an indicator of literacy among children below 10 years of age.

Among smaller states, Punjab was at the top of the index while Telangana was at the bottom while Puducherry topped the index among union territories while Ladakh was the worst performer.

Among north-eastern states, Sikkim was at the top while Meghalaya was at the bottom of the index. There are four categories in which regions have been divided, large states, small states union territories and north-east, for indexation.


Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM), released the report which has been prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness.

As per the report, released on Friday, India’s overall average score was 44.48 and 18 out of 36 state/UTs have scored above country average in FLN index.

The index has ranked states on five key parameters and 36 indicators. These include educational infrastructure, access to education, basic health, learning outcomes and governance.

The second edition of the foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) report captures the role of language in education and focuses on improving the learning outcomes using appropriate assessments and medium of instruction.

“The report continues to be a benchmark for states and union territories to track their performance relative to their peers in achieving universal foundational learning by 2026-27,” EAC-PM said in a statement.

EAC-PM recommended that the survey for upcoming index undertake various assessments pertaining to the linguistic system (includes phonology, vocabulary/lexicon, and syntax), the orthographic system (includes symbols and mapping principles), and the writing mechanisms and move the focus to improving the periodicity of NAS and the sample size of FLS for assessing the learning outcomes effectively.

“Finally, the need for data monitoring at a disaggregated level for FLN outcomes is also required to be integrated into the system, along with clearly defined outcome-based indicators on pedagogical framework and education in India,” it added.