NGO Pratham has released the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and it is not a very uplifting verdict. As per the report, every fourth or 25 percent of students passing class 8 are unable to read basic Class 2 text. Nationally, the reading ability has worsened from 2014 fro m74.7 percent to 73.1 percent in Class VIII students. The NGO – Pratham conducted ASER 2016. The reach of the survey extends to 589 rural districts across India, and covered 17,473 villages and 562,305 children in the age group 3-16. Needless to say, the lack of basic reading abilities and skills is a detriment for students getting ready for higher education. The situation has marginally worsened in 2016 in comparison to 2014.
The study also tested the reading and basic arithmetic abilities of Class III and Class IV students of both private and government schools. Though the figures have improved over the last year, it is still not very reassuring. As per the ASER released by Pratham, nearly half of the students in government schools (58.8 percent) and private schools (61.2 percent) cannot read Class 2 text. These figured have, however improved from 2014 figures of 66.9 and 63 percent respectively. The improvement was seen substantially (that is more than 7 percentage points since 2014) in states of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, G ujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana. Following the release of the report, the Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia called for a Survey of Delhi Schools as well since the report focuses mainly on rural areas.
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As for the arithmetic abilities, there has been a marginal improvement in the primary classes. The states, however, of secondary class students remain the same. While 68.4 percent of class VII students could correctly carry out a 3 digit by 1 digit division problem in 2010, the number had reduced to 44.2 percent in 2014 and further to 43.3 percent in 2016. The trend was reversed only in the states of Manipur, Karnataka and Telangana.
But all was not dismal in the report. There have been positive signs as well. For instance, the number of small schools continue to rise and there has been an overall increase in the facilities available at the school. For instance, 68.7% of schools visited by the survey had usable toilets as compared to 47.2% in 2010. Also, only 3.7% schools visited in 2016 did not have toilets. Some states stood out in terms of providing computer facilities. For instance, state of Kerela had a 89% proportion of schools with computer labs for students. Though states continue to focus on improving the education facility and education standards at primary level, the overall picture too needs to improve.
