The 16th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 (Rural) was released by Pratham foundation on Wednesday, November 17. ASER reports on the schooling status of children in the 5-16 age group across rural India and their ability to do basic reading and arithmetic tasks.
As field-based survey could not be conducted due to the Pandemic, ASER 2021 has followed the format of a phone-based survey. The survey was conducted in September-October 2021. The survey tries to find out how children in the age group of 5-16 studied at home since the onset of the pandemic and the challenges that the schools and households now face as schools reopen across states.
Here are some important findings from the ASER 2021 report:
• According to the report, there has been an overall increase in the proportion of children enrolled in govt schools between 2018 and 2020 i.e from 64.3% to 65.8%. However, in the year 2021, the enrollment suddenly went up to 70.3%.
• The enrolment rate in private schools has however gown down from last year. In 2020, the enrolment rate was 28.8% and in 2021 the enrolment rate went down to 24.4%.
• About 73.1% school respondents have received training for implementation of COVID prevention measures in 2021.
• According to the report, even though availability of smartphones increased from 36.5% in 2018 to 67.6% in 2021, more children in private schools had smartphone at home (79%) compared to government school going children (63.7%).
• ASER 2021 also pointed out that there was a 40% increase in the number of school going children taking tuition during the closure of their schools amid the pandemic.
• According to the report, 52% of the respondents, including teachers and principals in govt schools, cited financial distress caused by the pandemic as the reason behind the increase in govt school enrollments, another 50% said that it was because of the free facilities available at the government schools, 40% of them said that private schools’ failure to conduct online classes led parents to move their children to public schools; while 15% said migration during the lockdown was the reason behind the shift.
The report was prepared on the basis of the telephonic survey conducted in rural areas of 581 districts across 25 states and three union territories between September and October. As many as 76,706 households, 7,299 schools in 17,184 villages across India were covered in the survey.
(With inputs from Fareeha Iftikhar)
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