India’s Learning Crisis: How Language Barriers in Primary Classrooms Are Failing Millions of Children

India spent decades trying to get every child through the school gate. Now comes the more uncomfortable question: what happens after the child enters?

She may sit in a classroom for five years and still struggle to read a passage meant for a seven-year-old. She may recite answers, copy sentences from a blackboard and move from one grade to the next without fully understanding what she is being taught. She is enrolled. She attends school. Every register records her presence.

But has she learnt?

Sometimes, the distance between schooling and learning begins with something as fundamental as language. The teacher knows the child speaks another language at home. The child knows the teacher is speaking a language she does not fully understand. Yet the lesson continues. The Language and Learning Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Practices Survey 2025 captured the contradiction starkly. While 73 per cent of teachers knew the home languages spoken by their students, only 9 per cent consistently used those languages to help children understand and participate. Attendance records the child’s presence. The lesson may still pass over her.

For Dhir Jhingran, Founder and Executive Director of the Language and Learning Foundation (LLF), this is one part of a much larger national crisis. Nearly 30 per cent of Indian students, he says, enter school speaking a language different from the medium of instruction. They are expected to recognise letters, understand numbers, follow directions and find their voice while first trying to decipher the language in which everything is being taught.

Language is only the beginning. Primary classrooms continue to be dominated by teacher talk, choral repetition and copying. Children learn to reproduce an answer long before they are encouraged to question it. More than half of those completing Grade 5, Jhingran points out, remain unable to read a Grade 2-level text with full understanding.

Jhingran has watched the crisis from almost every level of the education system. A former IAS officer and Director in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, he has also served as Senior Advisor to UNICEF India, Advisor to Nepal’s Ministry of Education, and Asia Regional Director and Chief Program Officer at Room to Read. In 2015, he founded LLF to work with governments on foundational literacy and numeracy, teacher development and multilingual education.

His argument is unsettling. India may have expanded access to education, but millions of children can spend years in school without acquiring the ability to comprehend, reason or learn independently. The stakes are growing. Artificial intelligence can retrieve information, solve problems and produce polished answers in seconds. Schools that continue rewarding children primarily for remembering information may be preparing them for a world that has already moved on.

What, then, is primary education for?

In an interview with Open Digital, Jhingran examines why India’s learning crisis has survived decades of reform, why English aspiration complicates the mother-tongue debate, why teachers cannot be transformed through one-off training programmes and why the age of AI demands classrooms that teach children to understand, question and think.

India has brought millions of children into school. Why has schooling still failed to become learning for so many of them?

There cannot be a quick fix for foundational learning. Foundational learning means that children are able to read fluently with comprehension, express themselves orally in a logical manner, write independently and perform mathematical operations with understanding. The key word is mastery. It is not enough for children to be introduced to these skills. They need sufficient opportunities to practise, apply and consolidate them until they can use them confidently and independently.

Achieving this mastery depends on good teaching and learning. Teachers need to understand how children learn to read and write and develop mathematical thinking. They must be able to use evidence-based practices, appropriate teaching materials and methods that actively engage every child. This requires a deep change in the way teaching and learning happen in primary classrooms. It cannot be achieved through a short intervention or a single round of training. Teachers require sustained support and reforms must be implemented consistently over time.

Nearly 30 per cent of children enter school speaking a language different from the medium of instruction. What happens to a child who cannot understand the language of the classroom?

Children learn best in a language they fully understand. Understanding is the foundation of all learning. Early education should therefore begin in the language most familiar to the child, whether we call it the mother tongue or the home language. Language is also closely linked to confidence and a sense of belonging. Children are more likely to participate, ask questions and express themselves when the classroom feels familiar, both in the language being spoken and in the stories, examples and contexts being used. It creates an environment in which they feel emotionally secure and ready to learn.

At the same time, multilingual education does not mean that children should learn only in their mother tongue. It is equally important for them to learn the school language, English and other languages that may be useful later in life. The best approach is to begin with the language children know best and use it as the foundation for learning additional languages. A strong foundation in the home language does not limit a child’s opportunities. It makes it easier to acquire other languages and succeed in school.

Many parents see English-medium education as their child’s route to social mobility. Does the case for mother-tongue learning risk colliding with their aspirations?

Multilingual education is ultimately about helping languages work together. Beginning with the home language does not mean delaying or denying access to English. Children need to learn English and other languages that are important for their education and future opportunities. The question is how they learn them well. When children build comprehension, vocabulary, confidence and the ability to express ideas in a language they understand, that foundation supports the learning of additional languages. The home language should become a bridge to English and the school language. It expands a child’s capacity to learn. It does not reduce ambition.

Your survey found that 73 per cent of teachers knew the home languages spoken by their students, but only 9 per cent consistently used them. If teachers recognise the barrier, why does the classroom continue to ignore it?

Learning assessments tell us what children know or can do, but they do not always explain why some children are learning and others are being left behind. TLPS 2025 was undertaken to understand what actually happens inside foundational classrooms. It covered 1,050 Grade 1 and Grade 2 classrooms across 21 districts in nine states. The survey examined teaching practices, children’s participation, the use of teaching and learning materials, classroom language and the realities of multigrade teaching.

We found progress in creating more inspiring classroom environments, but significant gaps remained. Children had opportunities to speak freely and participate openly in only one-third of classrooms. Teacher talk, choral repetition and copying continued to dominate. The difference between teachers knowing the home languages and using them consistently shows that awareness alone cannot alter classroom practice. Teachers need preparation, appropriate materials, demonstration and continued academic support to use children’s languages purposefully for comprehension and participation.

Why does the Indian classroom continue to reward repetition when the world increasingly rewards questioning, interpretation and original thought?

Children learn when they are actively engaged. They need opportunities to think, speak, do, question and make sense of ideas. They should be encouraged to explain their thinking, write independently and connect what they learn with their own experiences. They should also be able to use their home languages when required and participate without being afraid of making mistakes. Teachers must be equipped to involve every child, including those who are quiet, struggling or learning through an unfamiliar language. As India moves into the next phase of its foundational learning mission, improving classroom practice must become central. If classrooms become more participatory and every child is meaningfully engaged, learning outcomes will improve at scale.

Why do reforms that appear transformative in policy documents become weaker by the time they reach the classroom?

The most important part of any reform is ensuring that it is adopted across a large number of classrooms and implemented consistently by teachers. This must begin with a shared vision and a common understanding of the change we want to see. That vision must be understood at every level of the system, from state leadership and district administration to block-level functionaries, school leaders and teachers. Without a common understanding, even a well-designed reform can become fragmented during implementation.

People need a clear roadmap. They must know what the change involves, how it will be introduced, what support will be available and how progress will be assessed. Consultation and dialogue with teachers are critical. Teachers bring reform to life inside the classroom. Large-scale reform cannot succeed through a purely top-down approach. We have to build the understanding and ownership of the people responsible for implementing the change and support them consistently. That is what turns policy into measurable learning.

If you could guarantee one systemic change in Indian primary education over the next decade, what would it be?

I would choose a strong focus on deep comprehension. Children should be able to reason and think about different subjects, ask good questions and distinguish fact from opinion or misinformation. Primary classrooms should encourage creativity and active conversations in which children participate and think deeply. Children must be taught how to learn. The ability to learn independently throughout life has to be cultivated early, beginning in primary school. In a changing world, AI can provide almost all the information we need. That makes the ability to think deeply, reason critically and create even more important. These are the abilities we need to begin developing in primary school. The future of Indian education will depend on whether children can understand, question and use what they learn with confidence.