{"id":15216,"date":"2025-11-29T03:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/?p=15216"},"modified":"2025-12-09T07:02:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T07:02:42","slug":"remedial-education-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/remedial-education-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Thought of Remedial Classes and Why Are They Important?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As of the last decade, India has achieved a major milestone: net primary enrolment rose from 89% in 2010 to around 98% as of 2024\/2025 and yet, many enrolled children still struggle to master basic reading and arithmetic. Government schemes, community mobilisation and NGO-led efforts have collectively ensured that access to education is no longer the primary barrier it once was and more children go to school today than ever before. But beneath this success lies another crisis: children may be in school, but many are not learning at the level they should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reports over the years, from national surveys to independent learning assessments, consistently highlight the same gap. A substantial proportion of children in upper primary grades struggle to comprehend simple texts or perform basic arithmetic. These gaps do not arise suddenly. They accumulate slowly, often beginning in early childhood and widening each year as lessons become more complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remedial Classes<\/em> play a significant role in trying to bridge this gap. A structured, intentional and child-centred approach<\/strong> to help students strengthen the foundational skills they might have missed in their early school years. Besides most primary and elementary schools, organisations like Smile Foundation have adapted and expanded it within the Indian context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the Idea of Remedial Classes Began<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Remedial education is not a new idea, it has existed in various forms around the world for more than a century. Early versions emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries when schools in Europe and North America began to recognise that children do not learn at the same pace. Some required more time, some needed repetition and some needed individual guidance that was impossible to provide in overcrowded classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psychologists and educators like Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget and John Dewey transformed global thinking by showing that learning is not linear and children must be met where they are. Their insights laid the groundwork for modern remedial programmes that recognise gaps not as failures, but as differentiated requirements in learning journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the late 20th century, remedial education had become a formal component of schooling systems in many countries, especially in areas with higher poverty, linguistic diversity and socio-political conflicts. However, all across the core idea stayed the same: meet children at their current learning level and guide them forward with patient, individualised support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why Remedial Classes Became Essential in India <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Over the past three decades, India has made remarkable strides in expanding access to education. Net enrolment rates in primary education rose from around 78% in 1990-91 to nearly 97% by 2020-21, driven by initiatives such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act (2009). Yet, large-scale assessments, including the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), revealed a persistent learning crisis, that many children were attending school, but lagging behind in basic reading and arithmetic. In 2022, ASER reported that only 50% of Grade 5 students in rural India could read a Grade 2-level text and fewer than 40% could perform simple division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several systemic factors contributed to this widening gap:<\/p>\n\n\n\n