ASER 2022 Report
- Recent Context: The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)2022, which looks at changes in student enrollment, attendance, and reading and math skills, has just been published after a four-year hiatus.
How has the pandemic year affected the number of students enrolled?
- Even though enrollment was already extraordinarily high, it continued to rise even when schools were closed.
- Although there was worry that older girls in particular could quit going to school, it has gotten worse, especially for older age groups.
- Then there is a large shift toward government schools; according to ASER 2022, this figure for students aged 11 to 14 has climbed from 65% in 2018 to 71.7% in 2022.
- From 2006 to 2014, the proportion of children attending government schools fell rapidly, but it then reached a level for the next four years before rising to 71.7% in 2022.
Have improvements to services like lunches and restrooms, among other things, led to the increase in enrollment?
- Over time, infrastructure variables have improved. The lack of action taken by rural private schools during the Covid era due to their own shaky economics may be the root of the enrollment issue.
- Government schools, however, usually offered midday meals and distributed textbooks because they were connected to the State.
- The lecturers were able to relate to the pupils in some way. There is a pull factor as a result.
- Additionally, given our past experiences, it’s also likely that even though family incomes have reduced, everyone still believes that education is essential. Therefore, it’s critical to take advantage of parental involvement in and interest in education.
What would indicate an equivalent increase in private tuition?
- Because private education is more customizable, tuition may have gone up. With the provider, better arrangements could likely be negotiated so that parents would receive their money next month but not this month.
- Parents believed that greater support was required because schools were closed and it was unknown when they would reopen. This might be thought of as a type of local organising.
- Tuition can refer to a multitude of things, but it also shows how much parents are willing to sacrifice in order to give their children more, whatever the cost.
What level of development have the fundamental skills reached that the National Education Policy of 2020 emphasises?
- Two of the programmes that were the focus of an ASWER assessment of several schools were the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) mission and the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat. Did these programmes provide you with any recommendations or train any teachers?
- In about 80% of the schools, teachers were reported to have had training, and we were told what to do.
- This suggests that governments are taking the promotion of NIPUN Bharat very seriously. It makes the case that momentum must be kept going.
- Learning levels have declined since 2018, although again, this varies across the country.
- We need to find out why reading is suffering more than math, strangely, from specialists. Is it because math is used so much more frequently now, especially at such a basic level? It’s hard to say, but we can see that recovery is possible.
- It is critical to realise that NIPUN Bharat’s goals are for every child to read and do fundamental math operations at grade level by the end of the third grade. Before Covid, there were roughly 30% of these children; today, the numbers for reading and math are 20% and 25–26%, respectively.
What actions are necessary to improve these core skills?
- Over the past ten years, there has been improvement, but it has been gradual. Therefore, the current situation needs to be changed immediately.
- As a result, we shall announce that both the family and school systems need to make big strides every year.
- To increase national productivity, it is crucial to take this action. The current situation won’t work.
- The message needs to be reiterated even if it is not entirely fresh. Due to the new teaching approach and how Covid has altered everyone’s thinking, it can also be crucial to emphasise.
Concerning ASER:
- ASER stands for Annual Status of Education Report. This yearly citizen-led house survey aims to provide precise estimates of the number of children enrolled and the level of basic education for each district and state in India.
- ASER has been conducted yearly in all of India’s rural districts since 2005. The largest citizen-led survey ever conducted in India.
- ASER 2022, which will also offer representative estimates of the learning levels of children aged 5 to 16 and the state of their education, will encompass more than 17,000 communities in almost every rural region of the country. By comparing the results with previous ASER rounds, it is easy to observe how the epidemic has changed the way that education is delivered in rural India.