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Tamil Nadu Launches 100-Day Learning Challenge in 14,000+ Primary Schools

The Tamil Nadu Directorate of Elementary Education is launching a major expansion of its "100-day challenge" to strengthen foundational skills in reading and arithmetic. The initiative, starting in the third week of February, will reach students in Classes 1 to 5 across more than 14,000 schools. It builds on a successful pilot program that showed measurable improvements in student learning outcomes. The program was inspired by a school visit by the Education Minister and will involve systematic monitoring to ensure progress.

Key Points: TN's 100-Day Learning Challenge for Primary School Students

  • Statewide rollout from Feb 3rd week
  • Targets Classes 1 to 5
  • Focus on reading & arithmetic
  • Builds on successful 2024-25 pilot
2 min read

TN Elementary Education Dept to launch 100 day learning challenge in over 14,000 schools

Tamil Nadu expands its 100-day foundational learning program to over 14,000 schools to boost reading and math skills for Classes 1-5.

"It not only supported classroom teaching but also helped improve students' reading fluency and basic computational skills in a structured manner. - Senior Department Official"

Chennai, Feb 16

Tamil Nadu's Directorate of Elementary Education will roll out a statewide "100-day challenge" from the third week of February to strengthen foundational learning skills among students of Classes 1 to 5 across the state.

The initiative, aimed at enhancing reading and arithmetic proficiency, builds on the success of a pilot programme conducted during the 2024-25 academic year.

In the earlier phase, the Tamil and English reading skills of students from 4,552 primary schools were assessed.

Their basic arithmetic abilities -- including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division -- were also evaluated using a structured assessment tool developed by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), in collaboration with teacher trainers from regional resource centres.

Encouraged by the positive response and measurable improvement in learning outcomes, the department has now proposed to expand the programme significantly.

More than 14,000 schools are expected to participate in the 2025-26 academic year, covering a much larger pool of primary school children who are deemed ready to take up the challenge.

A senior department official said the 100-day open challenge, initially launched in December 2024 for Tamil, English and Mathematics, had yielded encouraging results.

"The programme was introduced as a focused intervention alongside existing academic initiatives in schools. It not only supported classroom teaching but also helped improve students' reading fluency and basic computational skills in a structured manner," the official noted.

The concept of the 100-day challenge reportedly took shape following an interaction between School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and students of T. Pudur Panchayat Union Primary School in November 2024 after the school's headmistress, K. Valarmati, had invited him to observe students' learning levels firsthand.

The visit highlighted the need for sustained, time-bound academic interventions to address foundational learning gaps at the primary level.

With its expansion this year, the programme is expected to reinforce the state's focus on strengthening early grade literacy and numeracy. Education officials said systematic monitoring and regular assessments would continue during the 100-day period to ensure measurable progress in student learning outcomes across participating schools.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

R
Rohit P
Good step, but the real challenge is implementation. 14,000 schools is a huge number. Will there be enough resources and support for teachers in rural areas? The pilot's success is promising, but scaling up needs careful planning.
K
Karthik V
Finally, a focus on foundational skills! Too often, the syllabus just runs ahead whether the child has understood the basics or not. Strengthening reading and arithmetic in Classes 1-5 will help students immensely in higher classes. Kudos to the department.
S
Sarah B
It's encouraging to see data-driven policy. Using assessments from SCERT and expanding based on pilot results is smart. Hope the "measurable progress" is shared transparently with the public.
A
Aman W
I appreciate that the minister visited a school personally. Our leaders need to see ground reality. But a 100-day challenge shouldn't become extra pressure on kids. It should be engaging and fun, not another stressful exam.
N
Nisha Z
This is very needed. In my village, many children in 5th standard still can't read a simple paragraph properly. If this program can fix that gap, it will be a huge service to their future. All the best to the teachers! 💪

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