Kuzu Phonics pilot project launched to strengthen foundational literacy in Sikkim

GANGTOK,: In a bid to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN), the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) of Gangtok, Namchi and Gyalshing have jointly launched the Kuzu Phonics Pilot Project for selected Grade I classrooms across 30 pilot schools in the State, officials said on Monday.

The four-month pilot programme, to be implemented from July to October, is designed to systematically develop children’s phonological awareness and phonics skills through activity-based and evidence-based classroom practices, they said.

According to a press release, the initiative reflects the vision articulated by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and Education minister Raju Basnett during the State Education Conference, where they stressed the need to enable children in government schools to communicate confidently in English from the primary grades.

The Kuzu Phonics Pilot Project seeks to build a strong foundation in English language learning through scientifically designed phonics instruction, helping children become confident speakers, readers and writers.

Principal secretary Sandeep Tambe and other Education department officials has been extending guidance and support for the planning and implementation of the pilot project, the release mentions.

The implementation guidelines and month-wise plan have been prepared in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022. Teachers will be provided with structured implementation plans, classroom activities, assessment tools and digital learning resources.

The instructional approach integrates phonics with oral language development, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing while ensuring learning remains child-centred and engaging.

The programme has been developed by a team of DIET, Gangtok with academic support from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

Under the implementation schedule, children will be introduced to the 26 letters and their corresponding sounds in July, along with phonological awareness activities such as recognising environmental sounds, identifying initial sounds, syllable segmentation and blending exercises.

In August, students will progress to rhyming words, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words, onset and rime patterns, vowel sounds and common two-letter consonant blends.

September will focus on more advanced phonics concepts, including common three-letter blends and digraphs such as "sh", "ch", "th", "wh", "ph", "ck" and "ng", while October will emphasise phoneme manipulation through activities like word ladders and sound substitution to strengthen reading fluency and writing skills.

Teachers have been encouraged to devote 10 to 15 minutes daily to phonological awareness and phonics instruction while integrating these skills with the regular English curriculum. Student progress will be monitored through continuous classroom-based assessment, officials said.

The initiative has adopted ‘Kuzu’, the snow leopard and official mascot of Sikkim’s 50th Statehood celebrations, as its mascot to make learning more engaging for children and promote awareness of the State’s heritage, the release adds.