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Patralekha Chatterjee | ASER: A Lot of Celebrate, but Much Yet to Be Done

Entry barrier to artificial intelligence has been shattered by a Chinese startup

It is no secret that foundational skills — literacy, numeracy and increasingly, knowledge of digital tools — are the building blocks of success in the 21st century. Without universalising these core skills, no country and no society can achieve sustainable success. This has become even more relevant with the emergence of new technologies and in a post-DeepSeek world, where the entry barrier to the world of artificial intelligence (AI) has just been shattered by a Chinese startup.

Distressingly, millions of children in the developing world still cannot read simple texts or know how to do basic maths by the end of primary school. The Covid-19 pandemic deepened the crisis in learning in India and elsewhere. Since then, heart-warmingly, there has been a recovery in learning outcomes. This merits celebration, even if it is not a quantum leap.

It is equally important to acknowledge that India remains a patchwork quilt in every metric, including learning. In an increasingly uncertain, unpredictable, and ruthlessly competitive world, Indian states compete. There is also the wider world and competition with other countries. It is vital to benchmark oneself against those who are doing better rather than those who are doing worse. We cannot afford to lose sight of this even as we celebrate.

First, the good news encapsulated in the recently-released Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, a nationwide rural household survey conducted by Pratham, a leading NGO. The report provides a snapshot of learning in rural India, where the majority still live. The survey covered 649,491 children across 17,997 villages in 605 rural districts and was carried out in collaboration with local organisations and institutions in each district.

The key findings reveal that enrolment in both government and private schools has gone back to pre-pandemic levels and there have been overall improvements in reading and arithmetic skills. In 2024, for the first time, ASER also included a set of digital tasks to assess the ability of children aged 14-16 to do simple tasks on their smartphones.

The ASER survey found that at the all-India level, 83 per cent of schools said they received directives from the government to implement FLN (Foundational Literacy and Numeracy) activities. Around 78 per cent said that at least one teacher in the school had been trained in FLN, while 75 per cent also received relevant learning material.

Among three-year-olds, enrolment in pre-primary institutions has gone up from 68.1% in 2018 to 75.8% in 2022 to 77.4% in 2024. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana have achieved near-universal enrolment for this age group. Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh have the highest proportion of three-year-olds not enrolled anywhere (over 50%).

“The percentage of Class 3 children able to at least read Class 2 level text was 20.9% in 2018. This figure fell to 16.3% in 2022, and has increased to 23.4% in 2024. The improvement in government schools is higher than the corresponding recovery for private schools. Following a decline in Class 3 reading levels in government schools in most states in 2022, all states have shown a recovery in 2024,” says the report.

There is improvement also at the elementary school, among children in the 6-14 age-group. All-India figures show an uptick in reading levels for children in government schools in all elementary grades (Class 1-8) since 2022. Across the country, children’s basic arithmetic levels also reveal tangible improvement in both government and private schools, reaching the highest level in over a decade. In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, 55.3% of children in Class 8 can now do division. In 2014, the corresponding figure was 43.9%. At the all-India level, the proportion of children in Class 5 who can at least do a numerical division problem has also improved.

The report credits the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Nipun Bharat Mission, a national initiative to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy skills, for contributing to learning improvements.

Clearly, investments in human development and a push towards foundational learning pay off.

But while all-India figures paint an uplifting picture in many instances, we must not overlook the continuing disparities between states on multiple fronts. When it comes to learning, states continue to progress at very different speeds.

Millions of Class 3 children in India still cannot read Class 2 level texts.

The outcomes are a function of not just individual abilities. The environment in which children are learning plays a crucial role.

The data on the percentage of schools complying with pupil-teacher ratio norms as specified in the RTE (Right to Education Act, 2009) is revealing. In Andhra Pradesh, it is 82.9%. In Bihar, the corresponding figure is 63.1%.

In Nagaland, only 46% of schools have girls’ toilets that are available and usable. The national average is 72.2%. While everyone loves champions, the data on the percentage of schools with weekly time allotted for physical education for every class is revealing.

In Maharashtra, it is 97.5%, in Kerala, it is 93.1% and in Nagaland, it is only 35.8%.

Take digital tasks. The latest ASER data shows that access to smartphones is less and less of a constraint. “Most rural households already have a smartphone. Getting a second phone may be easier for many families in times to come,” says the report.

But when it comes to how they are used, and by whom, it is a mixed picture.

India’s rural teens use smartphones more for social media, and less for education. There are huge variations between states on digital skills. In Kerala, 94.8% of children between the ages of 14 and 16 can set an alarm on their smartphone. In Andhra, the corresponding figure is 86%; in Uttar Pradesh it is 72.5%. Move to Assam, and the figure dips to 73.7%; in West Bengal, it is only 60.3%.

An important revelation is the gender gap in digital literacy. In digital tasks like setting an alarm and browsing for information, boys (14-16) fare better than girls, though the gender divide on this score is much narrower in southern states like Kerala. Overall, boys (14-16) are also more aware of digital safety features than girls in the same age group. Only 50.2% of girls among those surveyed knew how to make a profile private, against 60.3%, for boys, underscoring the urgent need for gender-sensitive digital safety education.

The latest ASER report gives us a reason to celebrate. But it is important to celebrate with caution. While celebrating the outcomes of investments in foundational skills, we must not lose sight of the knowledge and performance gaps that remain and the ground-level work that needs to be done to strengthen the foundation.

The writer focuses on development issues in India and emerging economies. She can be reached at patralekha.chatterjee @gmail.com.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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