Vidya Pravesh Module 2025 is a School Preparation Module for Grade 1 students

Vidya Pravesh Module, or School Preparation Module, is a three-month play-based school preparation module for Grade 1 students.

With schools closed for the last year and a half due to COVID-19, the central government has issued a 12-week play-based module as a transition aid to help students ease into physical classes for the first time.

According to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) professors who prepared the Vidya Pravesh module, this preparatory module should be used for all Class 1 students across the country, even after the pandemic.

The Vidya Pravesh or School Preparation Module is meant to bridge the gaps for these students. “The purpose is to help teachers ensure that all children are exposed to a warm and welcoming environment when they enter Grade-I (6 to 7 years), particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to their smooth transition to school,” says the module’s guidelines. It is meant to be implemented in government schools through the newly launched ‘NIPUN Bharat’ scheme.

The module lays out detailed plans for achieving three developmental goals, using activities, games, art integration, and storytelling tools.

In order for children to maintain good health and well-being, it includes a focus on physical and motor development, socio-emotional development, nutrition, safety, hygiene and sanitation.

The other two goals aim to build the foundations for literacy and numeracy to ensure that children become effective communicators and involved learners who are able to connect with their immediate environment.

It is not just Class 1 students who need help in transition. NCERT officials are recommending that bridge courses be used for all grades until Class 5 once schools reopen. They note that such bridge programmes had been developed to integrate school dropouts and could be adapted for post-COVID school reopening as well.

Vidya Pravesh Guidelines for Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I

The foundational stage of children’s lives is crucial for their growth, holistic development, and learning. Accessibility to equitable quality education at this stage is fundamental for developing foundational health, well-being, language literacy, mathematical thinking, and environmental awareness competencies.

Therefore, the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) emphasises on developing the relevant concepts and attaining requisite competencies to facilitate optimal learning when children start schooling.

It is an interim measure to bridge the gap in children’s school-preparedness. Children who begin their education in primary schools with such strong foundational competencies grasp more advanced competencies faster.

Hence, this beginning must be smooth and comfortable in Grade-I (6 to 7 years), leading to better adjustment to the school education system and the learning process.

The policy clearly points out that a large proportion of children currently in primary schools are facing a learning crisis, especially in terms of foundational literacy and numeracy.

Timely intervention and well-designed age—and developmentally appropriate activities provide children with opportunities to develop the required competencies and promote their holistic development in an integrated manner, irrespective of their diverse backgrounds.

Keeping the focus on this holistic development, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed a Guidelines for Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I (6 to 7 years) children, ‘VIDYA PRAVESH’.

VIDYA PRAVESH is one of the essential components of NIPUN BHARAT – National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, an initiative of the Government of India.

This document intends to address the developmental and learning needs of all children who enter Grade-I (6 to 7 years), and who may or may not had any prior preschool experience. The document will facilitate teachers to make children’s entry in school education smooth, fearless and joyful.

The school preparation programme is suggested to be designed and implemented for the initial three months of Grade I (6 to 7 years), which can be transacted for four hours per day.

It follows a play-based pedagogy and promotes experiential learning, with emphasis on the use of developmentally appropriate activities and local play materials. Conscious efforts have been made to ensure the role of parents and the community in children’s growth, development, and learning.

The document is the result of the collective efforts of the NCERT faculty, along with subject experts, teachers, practitioners, and teacher-educators.

The guidelines are suggestive and can be adapted or adopted by the States/Union Territories and other stakeholders as per their requirements.

It is also a dynamic document, which will continuously be improved as per the feedback from the teachers and other stakeholders based on their experiences of implementing Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission.

The Department of Elementary Education, NCERT, ‘s efforts in developing these guidelines are well appreciated. The Council welcomes comments and suggestions from users to further enhance this document’s quality and usability.

Vidya Pravesh Highlights

Vidya Pravesh Module is provide guidelines for Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for 6 to 7 years Grade-I Children, has been developed as per the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The purpose is to help teachers ensure that all children are exposed to a warm and welcoming environment when they enter Grade I, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to their smooth transition to school.

The guidelines intends to create a stimulating learning environment that is joyful, safe, ensures emotional security and provides support to all the children in school and at home.

Play-based pedagogy is a significant aspect of the guidelines that plays a vital role in creating a joyful and stress-free environment for children to learn and in addressing the learning needs of children with special needs or disabilities (Divyang).

Focus is also given to learning in the child’s mother tongue or home language and to allowing as many languages as the child brings to the classroom, including sign language.

The document suggests three months or 12 weeks preparation as an interim measure until the universal provisioning of quality early childhood development, care and education is achieved with a target to ensure that all children entering Grade-I are school ready at least by 2030 (NEP 2020).

FLN Mission and Details

The FLN Mission aims to enable all children to read and respond with comprehension; independently write with understanding; understand reasoning in the domains of number, measurement, and shapes; and become independent in problem-solving.

The purpose is to ensure that every child in the country attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade-III, and not later than Grade-V, by 2025.

The guidelines also suggest that children need to be given a variety of learning experiences through play activities, interaction, worksheets, etc.

As directed in the NEP-2020, it is recommended that children be introduced to play and activity-based learning experiences in the initial three months or 12 weeks of Grade-I before introducing the activities in the Grade-I curriculum.

It is important to note that the pedagogical processes recommended are not limited to three months or 12 weeks only. They are expected to be continued throughout the foundational stage of learning as the children enter Grade-I, with diverse backgrounds (home contexts) and prior preschool experience.

The context for this recommendation is that a large proportion of children currently in elementary schools are undergoing what is being termed as ‘learning crisis’. It is estimated that approximately over 5 crore children in the elementary school system have not been able to attain foundational literacy and numeracy, i.e., the ability to read and comprehend basic text and carry out basic addition and subtraction (NEP 2020).

Some children might come directly to Grade I, some through Anganwadis, and some through private preschools. In most cases, they come with little or no access to quality preschool education. As a result, children enter Grade I with inadequate conceptual and linguistic preparedness for the primary school curriculum.

The research also indicates that a large number of children are admitted to school at the age of 5 or 6 with limited language and cognitive skills and conceptual foundation, which are actually needed as a prerequisite for them to successfully acquire competencies related to foundational literacy and numeracy at the foundational stage in schools.

The learning gap has a cumulative impact on their future learning in higher classes. The policy calls for immediate measures to be taken in ‘mission mode’ to ensure that the children are basic curricular preparedness in Grade I.

Learning experiences need to be designed to help children learn foundational literacy and numeracy concepts and acquire skills that will enable them to develop a sound foundation for learning in the early primary grades.

The activities should also provide opportunities to develop competencies like helping, sharing, getting along with other children, following a school routine, learning to adjust to a new environment, and concentrating on an activity for a period of time, thus extending their attention span. Once children learn to naturally focus on the subject, their overall learning becomes more effective.

Opportunities should also be given for experimentation, exploration, investigation, problem-solving, critical thinking, enriching interaction with others, and learning cultural diversity and ethical values.

Yoga, dance, exercise, and play activities for motor development must be a regular feature of school preparation for gaining physical fitness, mental alertness, memory enhancement, and emotional balance.

The confidence, motivation, and vigour to learn developed during this process prepare children for a smooth and successful start to the foundational stage.

It facilitates adjustment in the first few years of the foundational stage, leading to a reduction in the number of dropouts and retention in the preparatory classes in schools. It also helps children build a strong foundation for further learning and development.

Learning the importance of seva and a sense of responsibility would help them become good citizens in the future. The guidelines focus on the planning and implementation of the module, including planning activities, tracking children’s progress or assessment, involving parents and communities in children’s learning, developing a weekly schedule, and ways to implement daily or routine activities. They are given both for teachers and parents.

The focus is on building an interface between children, schools, and the family to work together to ensure smooth transition of children from home to school or from preschool to the primary school.

In NIPUN BHARAT guidelines for foundational literacy and numeracy mission, the competencies for holistic development of the child from 3 to 9 years are codified under three developmental goals.

The competencies and learning outcomes for three years of preschool education and classes 1 to 3 have been progressively and spirally arranged. The teachers need to keep the developmental goals, competencies and learning outcomes in mind while designing the learning experiences, activities and worksheets.

Foundational Stage 6 years (3–9 years)

Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I Children (6 to 7 years). This table for the Transaction Stage of the Module

The Duration of the School Preparation Module

• The module is to be designed for three months or 12 weeks duration for all children who have entered Grade-I ( 6 to 7 years).
• The learning opportunities should be provided for five days a week, for four hours per day, for the initial three months or 12 weeks of Grade-I ( 6 to 7 years).
• However, the four hours per day transaction duration is flexible, and the teachers may reduce or increase it as needed.
• In schools that function on Saturdays, the teachers may recapitulate the activities and plan for the next week.

The School Preparation Objectives

The Objectives The objectives of the three-month preparation module are:

• To promote school preparedness in all children coming to Grade-I ( 6 to 7 years) from diverse backgrounds.
• To ensure a smooth transition of children to Grade-I ( 6 to 7 years).
• To provide play-based, age- and developmentally appropriate learning experiences in a joyful and stimulating environment that leads to holistic development.
• To prepare children with the cognitive and linguistic competencies which are pre-requisite for learning to read, write and develop number sense through a play based approach.

Main Features of the School Preparation Module

Aim of the School Preparation Module

School Preparation Module Developmental Goals—The below developmental goals are interrelated and aim to provide opportunities for the development of competencies for ensuring holistic development of children, i.e., cognitive, language, physical, socio-emotional, and creativity. The teacher should develop and plan learning opportunities around all three developmental goals.

SP Program Developmental Goal 1

• Gross Motor Skills
• Fine Motor Skills
• Eye-Hand Coordination
• Socio-Emotional Development
• Health and Nutrition
• Hygiene
• Safety

SP Program Developmental Goal 2

• Talking and Listening
• Reading with Comprehension Writing with Purpose

SP Program Developmental Goal 3

• Sensory Development
• Cognitive Skills
• Concepts related to Environment
• Number Sense

The policy recommends to ensure that all children are prepared for school, a Three-month play-based school preparation module for all Grade-I students, consisting of activities and workbooks around the learning of alphabets, sounds, words, colours, shapes, and numbers, and involving collaborations with peers and parents, will be developed by the NCERT and SCERTs (NEP 2020).

Foundational literacy includes oral language, print awareness, phonemic awareness, book handling, vocabulary, letter sound correspondence, alphabet recognition, rhyming, letter sound correspondence, etc.,

Foundational numeracy includes concepts related to shapes, colours, sizes, spatial sense, one to one correspondence, classification, seriation, pattern making, sequential thinking, number sense, data handling, etc.,