7 Classroom Truths from TLPS 2025 That Can Transform Early-Grade Learning in India

Introduction

India has made visible progress in improving foundational learning outcomes. Large-scale assessments such as ASER and PARAKH show encouraging gains in reading and numeracy in government schools. Yet, a critical question remains unanswered. What is actually happening inside classrooms where this learning is expected to take place?

The Teaching and Learning Practices Survey (TLPS) 2025 was designed to answer exactly that question. It is India’s first large-scale, multi-state study that goes beyond test scores to closely observe how language and mathematics are taught and learned in Grades 1 and 2. Anchored by the Language and Learning Foundation and supported by Tata Trusts, TLPS was implemented across 1,050 government primary classrooms in 21 districts spanning nine states.

Rather than evaluating children, TLPS focuses on classroom practices, teacher-student interactions, inclusivity, and instructional choices. Its findings offer an honest, evidence-based picture of early-grade classrooms today. More importantly, they highlight what must change if India is to move from improved outcomes to universal mastery in foundational literacy and numeracy.

This blog unpacks seven critical classroom truths emerging from TLPS 2025 and explains why each one matters for the future of early-grade learning in India.

1. Quiet Classrooms Are Limiting Children’s Learning

TLPS found that in nearly two-thirds of classrooms, children were mostly quiet. Opportunities to speak freely, ask questions, or learn through peer interaction were limited.

Early-grade learning thrives on talk. When children explain ideas, narrate experiences, or discuss with peers, they strengthen language skills and conceptual understanding. Quiet classrooms may appear orderly, but they often signal passive learning. Without regular opportunities to speak and engage, children struggle to build confidence, comprehension, and expressive language.

This finding highlights the need to shift from heavily teacher-led instruction to classrooms where children’s voices are actively encouraged and valued.

2. Knowing Home Languages Is Not the Same as Using Them

Seventy-three percent of teachers reported knowing their students’ home languages. However, only nine percent consistently used these languages to support participation and comprehension.

This gap matters deeply. Children learn best when new concepts are connected to familiar language. When home languages are ignored, many children disengage, misunderstand instructions, or hesitate to participate. This is especially true in multilingual classrooms, which are common across India.

TLPS shows that language inclusion is not a knowledge problem. It is a practice problem. Teachers need structured guidance and confidence to use home languages as bridges to formal learning.

3. One-Size-Fits-All Teaching Is Leaving Many Children Behind

Only 30 percent of observed classrooms used differentiated teaching strategies to support children at different learning levels.

In every early-grade classroom, children learn at different paces. Some grasp concepts quickly, while others need repetition and guided support. When lessons are delivered at a single level, struggling learners fall further behind and confident learners remain under-challenged.

TLPS makes it clear that differentiated instruction is not optional. Flexible grouping, level-based activities, and scaffolded tasks must become regular classroom practices, particularly in Grades 1 and 2 where learning gaps emerge early.

4. Real-Life Connections and Open Questions Are Underused

The survey found limited use of children’s real-life experiences and open-ended questions during oral language activities.

Young children make sense of new ideas by linking them to their everyday lives. When teachers ask open-ended questions and invite children to share experiences, learning becomes meaningful and memorable. Without these connections, lessons remain abstract and disconnected from children’s realities.

TLPS suggests that classrooms need to move beyond recitation-based questioning and create space for thinking, reasoning, and expression.

5. Teaching and Learning Materials Are Often Missing from Children’s Hands

In more than half of the classrooms observed, children did not use teaching and learning materials at all.

Materials such as word cards, number counters, and picture charts are meant to be tools for exploration, not just demonstration. When children manipulate objects, they build deeper conceptual understanding. When materials remain unused or teacher-controlled, learning becomes passive.

TLPS highlights the need for consistent, learner-centred use of materials so that children can actively engage with concepts rather than merely observe them.

6. Academic Support for Teachers Is Uneven and Inconsistent

While 52 percent of teachers reported receiving academic support, nearly half experienced irregular visits, inadequate guidance, or no support at all.

Effective teaching practices cannot be sustained without continuous professional support. One-time training sessions are insufficient. Teachers need ongoing mentoring, feedback, and reinforcement that respond to real classroom challenges.

TLPS reinforces the idea that teacher development must be continuous, practice-focused, and closely linked to classroom realities.

7. Multigrade Classrooms Need Deliberate Instructional Planning

Although multigrade classrooms are a widespread reality, TLPS found limited evidence of deliberate planning for independent and group tasks in such contexts.

When teachers are responsible for multiple grades simultaneously, structured group work and independent activities are essential. Without them, attention becomes fragmented and learning time is lost.

The findings underscore the importance of equipping teachers with practical strategies to manage multigrade settings effectively while keeping all children meaningfully engaged.

Conclusion

TLPS 2025 serves as both a mirror and a roadmap. It reflects the everyday realities of early-grade classrooms across diverse Indian contexts, and it offers clear directions for improvement.

The findings make one message unmistakable. Learning outcomes will improve sustainably only when classroom practices improve. This requires a shift towards learner-centred instruction, meaningful use of home languages, differentiated teaching, active material use, and strong systems of continuous professional development.

At a system level, TLPS calls for foundational literacy and numeracy to be embedded within pre-service teacher education and supported through coherent, practice-focused professional development frameworks. Addressing multilingualism, multigrade teaching, and inclusion cannot remain peripheral. They must become central to how early-grade classrooms are designed and supported.

If India’s goal is for every child to achieve mastery in foundational learning, then what happens inside classrooms must be the starting point. TLPS 2025 gives us the evidence we need. The responsibility now lies in acting on it.