This article is authored by Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, CEO & MD, Central Square Foundation and Ajay Khanna, co-founder, Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI).

Every Budget season brings anticipation over the next big scheme the government will launch. However, equally important is recognising programs that have worked and strengthening them further. Nestled between headline-grabbing initiatives is a program that costs roughly Rs. 1,000 per beneficiary, provides returns of 10-15x over a lifetime, and has reversed decades of learning decline in just five years. That programme is the NIPUN Bharat Mission which was launched in 2021 with the objective of achieving universal foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN), the ability to read with understanding and do basic math. As Parliament prepares for Budget 2026, there is an opportunity to strengthen this Mission and expand its impact beyond its 2027 deadline.

The economic case for extension is compelling. Research across 50 countries demonstrates that a one standard deviation increase in test scores correlates with a two percentage point increase in GDP growth rates. Longitudinal studies show improved FLN skills increase adult earning by 11% and reduce dropouts by 63%, creating cascading effects on workforce productivity, social mobility, and long-term economic competitiveness. The implementation infrastructure for NIPUN already exists. NIPUN’s 70% budget utilisation rate proves states possess absorption capacity. What’s required is not institutional creation but institutional continuity and strengthening.

The evidence of NIPUN’s impact over the last five years is compelling. The PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 revealed that Grade 3 students who received full NIPUN benefits scored 64% in language and 60% in mathematics, outperforming students in Grade 6 and 9 who never experienced this intervention. More striking was that Grade 3 state government school children now demonstrate superior foundational skills compared to private school students, upending decades of assumptions about quality differentials.

ASER 2024 confirms this trajectory. Between 2014 and 2024, language and math proficiency of Grade 3 government school children grew by 6 and 14 percentage points respectively, despite Covid-induced learning loss. In Uttar Pradesh, where Mission Prerna preceded NIPUN, gains were even higher at 22 and 25 percentage points for language and math respectively. While learning levels are declining across the developed world, they are rising in India.

Budget 2026 must build on this foundation by extending the Mission by five more years until 2032, expanding coverage to Grades 3-5, and increasing annual allocation from ₹2,500 crores to ₹6,000 crores. This expansion addresses two realities. First, global experience from Kenya, Vietnam, and Brazil shows it takes at least a decade to fully realise FLN programme results. Five more years of NIPUN will help strengthen the machinery, improve last-mile delivery, and deepen impact. Second, NIPUN currently serves children up to Grade 2, yet ASER 2024 shows that more than 55% of Grade 5 government school children cannot read a Grade 2 text and over 73% cannot do division. Grades 3-5 are critical junctures to consolidate foundational learning before students face higher academic challenges. The proposed expansion will help us reach over 6 crore children annually, up from 2.5 crores currently, while maintaining the ₹1,000 per-child investment and keeping expenditure below 1% of the total school education budgets of this country.

Where would the additional ₹3,500 crores be deployed? First, ₹1,500 crores for teaching-learning materials (TLMs). The current ₹500 per student per year allocation for TLMs lacks nuance. It does not differentiate between school-level and individual materials. This additional budget will help allocate ₹10,000 per school to provide essential shared resources like storybooks for reading corners, group activity kits, math manipulatives, language games, posters, flashcards etc. which are critical to facilitate peer learning. This allocation would also extend the per-student budget of ₹500 to Grades 3-5.

Second, ₹1,500 crores for strengthening pre-primary education. Currently, 64% of five-year-olds remain outside the formal Early Childhood Education (ECE) system, entering Grade 1 underprepared and perpetually lagging behind. While the government allocates ₹2 lakh per school annually for pre-primary, most of these funds go towards procuring materials without addressing the teacher shortage. Only 9% of government schools with pre-primary sections have dedicated ECE teachers. Anganwadi child-to-teacher ratios average 33:1, exceeding the recommended maximum of 20:1. Moreover, ECE is only one of the 17 job roles Anganwadi workers execute daily. This funding would support hiring dedicated ECE educators, enable community awareness programs to drive enrollment, and provide specialised capacity building for teachers of 3-5-year-olds, whose pedagogical needs differ substantially from primary grades.

Third, ₹250 crores for information, education, and communication (IEC) initiatives to mobilise communities and improve parental engagement. Research shows schools with active parental involvement generate four additional months of learning progress annually and are ten times more likely to improve outcomes. Unlike other major schemes like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao and Swacch Bharat Mission, NIPUN lacks dedicated IEC funding which are critical for involving parents and increasing effectiveness.

Fourth, ₹160 crores for enhanced teacher material and capacity building. The current allocation of ₹150 per teacher annually for teacher materials is grossly inadequate given today’s classroom realities. Nearly 70% of primary schools operate in multi-grade, multi-level setups. With balavatikas (pre-primary sections) now integrated into the same classroom space, teachers manage a wider range of learners with different learning levels. Dealing with such complexities requires high quality, contextual resources for differentiated instruction. This allocation would double budgets for teacher resource materials and extend training specifically for Grades 3-5 teachers who must consolidate foundational learning while introducing higher-order skills.

Finally, ₹90 crores to support state-level innovations, capacity-building for mentor cadres who provide supportive supervision, and strengthening data ecosystems like Vidya Samiksha Kendras for real-time monitoring. Current NIPUN budgets lack provisions to incentivise high-performing states or enable innovation. This allocation can create a perpetual improvement cycle, with successful innovations scaled across states.

India's aspirations for developed nation status by 2047 rest fundamentally on human capital formation and we need to start with our children. The demographic dividend is not automatic but contingent on sustained investment in cognitive skills, the kind NIPUN has proven it can build at scale and at sustainable cost. For ₹1,000 per child annually, India can secure the foundational skills that determine individual prosperity and national competitiveness. Budget 2026 offers the opportunity to scale what demonstrably works. The question is whether we will seize it.

This article is authored by Ajay Khanna, co-founder, Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI) and Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, CEO & MD, Central Square Foundation. Views are personal.