The need for longitudinal studies of early literacy in
Indian contexts, especially in contexts of social and
economic disadvantage, emerged as a strong theme
during discussions at the national consultation on
Early Literacy sponsored by Tata Trusts (Tata Trusts,
New Delhi, April, 2011). Shortly thereafter, it was
decided that Tata Trusts, in collaboration with two
Tata Trusts partners and Dr. Shailaja Menon (of Azim
Premji University), would undertake a longitudinal
project on early literacy in Indian languages. Piloting
for the project began immediately thereafter and
continued over the next two years (2011-2013). The
longitudinal data collection for the project began in
September, 2013 in collaboration with two Tata
Trusts partners, QUEST (Wada, Maharashtra) and
Kalike (Yadgir, Karnataka), and continued until March
2016. To arrive at an in-depth, progressive
understanding, it was decided that this project would
track a cohort of students as they moved from
Grades 1-3. Analyses from the three years of data
collection are ongoing.
Rather than being a single study, LiRIL, with its focus
on the aforementioned five areas, is an umbrella
project answering multiple research questions. LiRIL’s
work has focused on economically disadvantaged
districts because we have a deep interest in
understanding these contexts, in the hopes of
eventually designing relevant interventions for those
who most need it. The learnings from the project,
therefore, may not be generalizable to the overall
population of these states; nevertheless, they
provide focused points of insight and input into the
strengths and challenges of language teaching in
disadvantaged districts within the states
