28 Aug 2023 : The Indian Express

Editorial 1: BRICS 2.0

Recent Context:

• Recently, 15th BRICS summit was hosted by South Africa in Johannesburg.
• The summit end with major decision of invite six countries — Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — to join BRICS as full members and keep its doors open for further expansion.

BRICS 2.0 will have global repercussions

• At Johannesburg, BRICS increased its membership to represent a larger share of world population, global GDP and international trade by invite six countries
•  The accommodation was important, given that at least 23 countries of the Global South had conveyed interest in seeking BRICS membership. This was a recognition of the grouping’s values
• Therefore, it will also have global repercussions on the
  • role of the US-led Western alliance centred around G7
  • emerging economies and developing countries, and
  •  the engagements between the two worlds.

The significance of adding new countries

• The new BRICS-XI will have more political influence and the extent of its increased influence will depend on building inner unity
• BRICS 2.0 will also have six of the top 10 oil-producing countries of Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, UAE, Brazil, and Iran — a definite global power shift and one not defined by the West
• Along with, the joint statement made during the summit stated that that the grouping will encourage local currencies in trade and financial transactions “between BRICS as well as their trading partners” and for “fast, inexpensive, transparent, safe and inclusive payment systems.
• Therefore, it will also widen the areas of trade and commerce, bilateral and multilateral relation among the countries

Strengthening the voice for UNSC

• At Johannesburg, the leaders decided to direct the foreign ministers to “further develop the BRICS partner country model”. In line for admission are Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Nigeria, Kenya, and a Latin American country.
• Johannesburg Declaration.: The immediate rebalancing focus is UNSC membership for the original BRICS members India, Brazil, and South Africa  articulated in Paragraph 7 of the Johannesburg Declaration.
• This requires the support of the permanent members, China and Russia, or it will further expose their doublespeak on this issue.

From India’s perspective

• Both UNSC membership and local currency trade are welcome to India. Two other possibilities discussed are favourable too.
• First, it was reiterated that G20 is the premier multilateral forum for “international economic and financial cooperation”. China and Russia conveyed their support for the successful hosting of successive G20 presidencies by India, Brazil, and South Africa.
  • This generates hope that these two states may become a little more conciliatory, and a consensus-based Delhi Declaration is delivered at the G20 summit in September.
• Second, the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the summit’s side lines, may offer fresh impetus for expediting a workable resolution of the border issues in the western sector of Ladakh

Conclusion

• BRICS faces a changed world in which its two members  Russia and China are heavily involved in confrontation with the US-led West.
• The other BRICS members do have differences with the existing global order, but they prefer reform through dialogue. As the six new members join BRICS, these inner dynamics will evolve further.
• However, India will have a seminal but challenging role, given its growing cooperation with the West on the one hand and its active articulation and pursuit of the interests of the Global South on the other.

Editorial 2: Shoring up the foundation

Recent Context:

• In a recent decision, the Ministry of Education has rolled back the scope of NIPUN Bharat to children in Grades 1-2, leaving out children in Grade 3.
  •  The rationale provided for this shift is to bring about the alignment between NIPUN Bharat and the curricular structure suggested by the NEP 2020 and the National Curricular Framework (NCF 2023)
• As more than half the children in India are unable to read fluently with comprehension or do basic mathematical operations by the end of primary schooling
• To address this, the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) suggested a national mission to ensure that all children attain foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 3.

NIPUN Bharat programme: Foundational educational improvement

• National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) programme was started by the Centre in 2021 to improve the foundational learning of five crore students in government primary schools.
• It has begun to slowly improve the learnings of children in Grades 1-3 in several states
• However, in a recent decision, the changes are made for alignment between NIPUN Bharat and the curricular structure suggested by the NEP 2020 and the National Curricular Framework (NCF 2023). 
• Therefore, NIPUN Bharat programme envisage a “foundational stage of learning” that would include three years of preschool education and the first two years of primary schooling

Theee is need to wider the coverage the students

• Approximately 68 per cent of children in the three to six-year age group are not able to access educational services in India. Most children come from poorly literate home contexts and encounter literacy for the first time in Grade 1.Thirty-five per cent of children spend several years of primary schooling navigating complex gaps between home and school languages.
• Therefore, to roll back a programme that supports the learning of children in Grade 3 is to let go of a bird in hand (support for children currently in Grade 3), for two in the bush (the hope of a unified, functional schooling block for the three to eight-year-olds).
• As a result, there is  need for providing extra support for children through Grades 1-5 so that they have enough time to establish robust foundations for language and numeracy learning. 
• As, most research conducted across the world and especially in Indian contexts show that these understandings develop slowly during the first four or five years of schooling.
• Therefore, it will result into establishing strong foundations for early literacy and numeracy.

Role of Anganwadi Centre in stretching foundational health

• Anganwadi centres provide services of

1. Supplementary nutrition
2.  Pre-school non-formal education;
3. nutrition & health education;
4. immunization; (v) health check-up to all children below 6 years.

• Therefore, Anganwadi centres play Significant role in foundation health and education of the children
• In this context, the setting up of a three to eight-year block in which children receive well-planned, high-quality educational services is still a distant goal.

Conclusion:

• Therefore, Programmes like NIPUN Bharat have also contributed to the emergence of strong foundation of children.
• However, it becomes all the more important to broaden the vision of early foundational learning to include a focus on the relevance of literacy to children’s lives, strong oral expression, deep, inferential comprehension, enjoyment and appreciation of literature, and capabilities to engage in written composition.
• Along with, lengthening the duration of programmes designed to strengthen early literacy and numeracy learning to include children in Grades 4 and 5 and to broaden their vision in terms of educational aims and outcomes.
• Therefore, duration of early literacy and numeracy programmes must be increased