Targeted Tutoring for Students Falling Behind

Learning is cumulative.

A child who does not learn basic reading may struggle to understand textbooks in later grades. A student who never masters multiplication may find fractions, algebra and science increasingly difficult.

Yet students can continue moving from one grade to the next while important gaps remain unresolved. Over time, a small learning gap can become a much larger one.

India’s NIPUN Bharat framework already recognizes this principle. It calls for continuous formative assessment that identifies each child’s learning gaps so they can be addressed in time, particularly in foundational literacy and numeracy.

The missing link should be a guarantee:

When assessment identifies that a child is falling behind, additional teaching should automatically follow.

Every school should establish a Targeted Learning Support Programme for students who have not mastered essential skills.

Short, low-stakes assessments during the school year should identify specific gaps—rather than simply label a student as weak.

A child might be at grade level overall but struggling with fractions. Another might read words correctly but have difficulty understanding what they read. Their additional instruction should address those specific gaps.

Students needing support should receive free, frequent small-group tutoring, preferably during the school day so that children who cannot stay after school are not disadvantaged. Students with larger learning gaps should receive more intensive support, including one-on-one instruction where necessary.

Priority should initially be given to foundational reading, writing and mathematics, because weaknesses in these areas affect learning across almost every other subject.
Tutoring should be closely connected to what students are learning in their regular classroom. It should not simply repeat the same lesson in the same way.

Each participating student should have a simple learning plan:

Identify gap → Provide targeted instruction → Practice → Reassess → Adjust support → Reach proficiency

Schools should be able to use trained teachers, academic tutors and other qualified personnel, but tutors should follow clear instructional standards and coordinate with classroom teachers.

Progress should be reviewed regularly. Once the student demonstrates the required competency, intensive tutoring can end and resources can move to another student.
The principle should be:

No child should be allowed to fall further behind simply because the school system has moved on to the next chapter or grade.

England provides a useful large-scale example of targeted tutoring.

Its National Tutoring Programme operated from 2020 to 2024 and provided subsidized academic support through school-led tutoring, academic mentors and external tutoring organizations. More than 6.1 million tutoring courses were delivered during the programme, including about 1.5 million in its final academic year.

The experience also provides important lessons about how tutoring should be designed.

Ofsted’s review found that tutoring worked best when schools identified specific gaps in students’ knowledge, closely connected tutoring to the regular curriculum and used assessment to determine whether students were progressing. Larger, more generic sessions and tutoring disconnected from classroom learning were less effective.

Evidence summarized by Ofsted also indicates that well-designed, targeted, frequent and consistent small-group tuition can produce meaningful additional learning progress, although England’s own National Tutoring Programme produced mixed results across different delivery models and years.

That distinction is important for India. The objective should not be simply to count tutoring hours. It should be to close identified learning gaps.

India already has the assessment philosophy through NIPUN Bharat. The next step is to connect diagnosis directly to intervention:

Assess every child → Identify the gap → Provide targeted tutoring → Measure progress → Continue until the child catches up

Finding that a child is behind should never be the end of the assessment. It should be the beginning of the intervention.