- This is a goal that is often talked about in the development sector but it can also be quite detrimental. - While no one disagrees that these are not important for learning it's important to note that reading without critical engagement or maths without any context is not going to help anyone. - The other concern with this is that it's often something that is emphases in more marginalised settings. This becomes the be all and end all and they find themselves just literate and looking at low earning professions. ---- Despite the rhetoric around FLN ushering in quality learning, a singular focus on its mastery oftentimes results in decontextualised mathematical learning (e.g., adding numbers correctly, but without knowing why they are being added or in what setting) and reading without critical engagement (e.g., reading a story fluently but without thinking about how it might relate to their lives or society). Such restrictive goals of learning have historically been barriers to any kind of true innovation in classroom instruction. It implies that richer learning and critical thinking come afterwards. Yet, they are not distinct elements in a sequence, but must happen in parallel. Reading without questioning and calculating without understanding its relevance are not quite the foundations for any possible critical thinking but might even lead away from it. As such, two separate tracks are reinforced within Indian education – children in elite and high-fee private schools get to focus on rich and holistic content with a focus on higher-order skills such as critical thinking and creative problem-solving. Marginalized children in low-fee private schools and public schools, who are shown to lack these so-called ‘foundational skills’, are expected to first master them before anything else. These distinct learning experiences present significant long-term implications – with some children emerging from K-12 education as ‘highly skilled’ and ‘more suited for elite professions’, and others relegated to being just ‘literate’ and thus facing a limited pool of low-earning professions to be eligible for [Link](https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationaldevelopment/2022/04/04/is-the-push-for-foundational-numeracy-and-literacy-in-india-pro-poor/)