New Delhi: An annual education survey said that children’s basic reading levels have fallen to pre-2012 levels due to the pandemic.
The Annual Education Report (ASER) – Rural conducted by NGO “Pratham” was released on Wednesday. The ground level survey was conducted on an all-India basis after four years, with responses collected through phone calls during the pandemic.
A release sent to the media said: “ASER 2022 reaches 616 rural districts across the country after a gap of 4 years. This year’s data will be especially valuable as it comes as schools reopen after prolonged closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It said the household survey “recorded the schooling status of children aged 3-16 and assessed children aged 5-16 in basic reading and arithmetic. This year the English ability of the children was also tested.
Talking about children’s reading ability, the survey said, “At the national level, children’s basic reading ability has declined to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow progress achieved in the intervening years Is. The decline can be seen in both government and private schools, and in both boys and girls, in most states.”
On maths, the survey said a decline similar to pre-2018 levels was observed, but not very sharp.
Arithmetic test assessed whether the child could recognize numbers from 1 to 99, perform a 2-digit numerical subtraction problem with borrowings, or correctly solve a numerical division problem (1 digit to 3 digit) .
Talking about English, the survey said: “ASER last assessed the English ability of children in 2016. Nationally, children’s ability to read simple English sentences has remained more or less at the 2016 level for grade 5 children (up from 24.7 percent in 2016 to 24.5 percent). in 2022). Little improvement is visible for children in grade 8 (45.3% in 2016 to 46.7% in 2022).”
This year’s ASER survey also talks about the increase in the number of children taking private tuitions. In 2021, the report good There was talk of increasing enrollment in government schools, but private tuitions are also increasing.
“Over the past decade, there has been a small, steady increase in the proportion of children in classes 1 to 8 in rural India attending paid private tuition classes. Between 2018 and 2022, this proportion further increased among students in both government and private schools,” the survey report said.
It said that at the national level, the proportion of children in classes 1 to 8 taking paid private tuition classes is expected to increase from 26.4% in 2018 to 30.5% in 2022.
“In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the proportion of children taking private tuition increased by 8 percentage points or more over 2018 levels,” it said.
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