ASER 2022: It's time to reconsider strategy for school children who have gone beyond the foundational stage

Why in News?

• The 17^th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report for 2022 was recently released after a gap of four years and surveyed 7 lakh children across 19,060 villages in 616 districts in the country.
• The article analyses data from 2018 and 2022 ASER reports and compares it with longer run trends over the last decade to see how the COVID-19 years have impacted India.
• It also put emphasis to stress upon older children in upper primary grades as the current policies majorly focus on early years in primary school.

 

About ASER Report

• ASER is conducted by the NGO Pratham, which has been surveying children aged 6 to 14 since 2005 to track trends in school enrolment, attendance and reading and arithmetic abilities (foundational learning and numeracy (FLN)).
• It is a nationwide household survey (with each sampled child in the household in one-on-one oral format) that covers entire rural-urban areas of the country and generates data for schooling and basic learning for every State in India.
• The highest reading task on the ASER tool is reading a text of Grade II level in mathematics, the highest level is a numerical three-digit by one-digit division problem.

 

Comparing Metrics from ASER 2018 and 2022 Reports

• Increased enrolment in rural areas: The 2022 ASER data relating to all-India rural enrolment figure is being increased to 98.4% from 97.2% in ASER 2018 report.
  • This rising enrolment indicates that more students can benefit for longer, sustained periods of time from schooling.
  • It is significant as completion of the entire cycle of eight years of schooling for each cohort of 25 million students is big achievement in considering India’s size and diversity.
• Shifting away from private schools to government schools: The percentage of children (aged 11 - 14) who are enrolled in government schools has risen from 65% in 2018 to 71.7% in 2022. This may be attributed to following reasons:
  • Decrease in family income
  • Permanent closures of low-cost private schools
  • State governments efforts (mid-day meal rations, teaching-learning materials) to provide services even when schools were closed
• Increase in children availing private tuitions: Between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of private tuitions increased further from 26.4% to 30.5%, a trend for over a decade now.
  • It probably increased because it is more flexible and provided some extra help to children when schools were closed.
• Drop in learning levels: ASER data reveals that less than a third of all children in standard five and less than half of those in standard eight could do division in pre-COVID-19 times.
  • These low levels declined further between 2018 and 2022, especially in reading.
  • In 2022, the basic reading ability of children in Class 3 dipped by 6.8% points (from 27.2% in 2018) and the proportion of children in Class 3 who could do at least subtraction fell to 25.9% in 2022 (from 28.2% in 2018).
  • ASER data attributes this to an “overambitious” curriculum and the linear age-grade organisational structure of Indian schools that result in a vast majority of children getting “left behind” early in their school career.
  • This trend is concerning as 80% of the government schools have teachers trained under the NIPUN Bharat and FLN mission (both conceived under the National Education Policy 2020).
  • The National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat ensures that every child in India gains foundational numeracy and literacy by the end of Grade 3.
• Proportion of girls not enrolled has also reduced: For girls aged 11-14, this share dropped from 4.1% in 2018 to 2% in 2022 (which stood at 10.3% in 2006).

 

What are the challenges ahead?

• High competition after tertiary education: With more and more students going through the middle school pipeline and attending secondary schools, there is increased competition for post-secondary opportunities.
• Unintended consequences of high enrolment: There are consequences of high enrolment and completion rates owing to following factors:
  • Acute examination stress
  • Grade inflation in school-leaving examinations
  • Difficulties of gaining admission into college
  • Lack of appropriate jobs for school leavers
• Lag in learning outcomes: In the last 10 years new technologies, new knowledge domains, and new ways of operating have emerged.
  • However, within India’s school systems, many children are reaching standard eight without being sufficiently equipped with FLN skills, let alone higher-level capabilities.
• Lack of in-school mechanisms: In the absence of in-school mechanisms for “catch up” and rectification, children fall further and further behind academically.
• Lack of motivation factors: An “overambitious” curriculum and the linear age-grade organisational structure of Indian schools, result in a vast majority of children getting “left behind” early in their school career.
  • This leads to low motivation to learn and a lack of self-confidence.
• Lack of relevant market qualifications: Academic content in schools, driven by preparations for Board examinations, implicitly assumes that students are being prepared for college.
  • This is accompanied by increased parental and family aspirations for the child’s future as he reaches higher grades.
  • However, the hard reality is that a college degree is neither relevant nor possible for most students who finish secondary school.
  • It is also not clear that a college degree will lead to the prized white-collar jobs that most students and their families are aspiring for.

 

Conclusion

• Much of the country’s efforts in school education today are focused on ensuring strong foundations for children in the early years.
• But it is critical focus on middle schoolchildren that also urgently need support for learning recovery and “catch up”.
• In the post-Covid scenario, where schools have stayed open for most of this school year, the urgency of dealing with “learning loss” need to be acknowledged.
• This is to rethink and rework what happens with our children once they grow past the foundational stage of schooling.
• This is also in line with National Educational Policy 2020 framework that speaks of “critical thinking” and “flexible pathways through school”.

 

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Q1) What percentage of GDP is spent on education in India?

As per the Economic Survey 2022-23 the total expenditure (combined states and Centre) on education as a percentage of GDP is at 2.9% since 2019.

 

Q2) What is the main objective of NIPUN Bharat Mission?

The main objective of NIPUN Bharat Scheme is to ensure that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.

 

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Source: ASER 2022: It's time to reconsider strategy for school children who have gone beyond the foundational stage