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2024 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
Context:
The Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2024, released by Pratham, provides crucial insights into basic learning levels, school attendance, and digital literacy among rural children in India.
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Covering 6,49,491 children across 17,997 villages in 605 rural districts, the survey highlights notable improvements in early childhood education, foundational literacy, and numeracy skills post-COVID-19 learning losses.
Key Findings on Learning Levels (2024)
- Improvement in Reading and Arithmetic Levels:
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- Reading and arithmetic skills have improved across all elementary grades (ages 6-14 years).
- Children in Classes 1 to 3 showed significant gains compared to 2022.
- Early childhood education (ages 3-6) saw higher enrollment, with 77.4% of 3-year-olds in rural areas enrolled in pre-primary institutions (LKG/UKG/Anganwadis/others).
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Impact of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020:
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- NEP expanded early childhood education (ECCE) and emphasised universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).
- NIPUN Bharat (launched in 2021) aims for universal FLN by Class 3 (age 8) by 2026-27.
- 83% of schools reported receiving government directives to implement FLN activities.
- 78% of schools had at least one teacher trained in FLN, while 75% received learning materials.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): Need for Focus
- Importance of ECCE for School Readiness:
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- The NEP recommends Class 1 enrollment at age six, ensuring children are cognitively and socially prepared for formal schooling.
- ECCE helps prepare children and their families for school while strengthening early childhood education structures.
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- Role of Anganwadis in Early Education:
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- More than one-third of children aged 3-5 attend Anganwadis.
- Anganwadi workers are now receiving specialised training in early childhood education.
- In states like Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, there is a shift towards pre-primary classes in schools.
- Rajasthan has seen an increase in 5-year-olds enrolling in both Anganwadis and private LKG/UKG classes.
- Anganwadis also offer direct parent-child engagement, making them crucial for holistic child development.
Impact of NIPUN Bharat
- Launched in 2021, NIPUN Bharat aims to enhance literacy and numeracy in the early grades and has become a driving force behind these positive changes.
- The program allocates Rs 500 per child for teaching-learning materials (TLM) to support engaging lessons.
- Teachers receive capacity-building workshops with state-specific funding of up to Rs 5,000 per teacher for professional development.
- State-level support includes funding (Rs 10-20 lakh) for comprehensive assessments and tracking learning outcomes, while Project Management Units (Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore) help with implementation.
- Improvements in Learning Outcomes:
- UP saw a 10% increase in Grade III students’ ability to read Grade II texts (from 24% to 34%) and solve subtraction problems (from 29% to 41%) between 2022 and 2024.
- Odisha‘s use of contextualised workbooks has led to similar improvements.
Digital Literacy and Older Children (Ages 15-16)
- School Enrollment and Dropout Trends: The percentage of children not enrolled in school has dropped to around 7%.
- Digital Access and Skills: Over 90% of rural adolescents have access to a smartphone. Digital literacy was assessed through tasks like online searches and setting alarms.
- Gender gaps exist: 80.1% of boys (14-16 years) could browse for information, compared to 78.6% of girls. In some southern states, girls performed equally or better than boys in digital literacy.
Future Outlook for ECCE and Learning Reforms
- Need for More Comprehensive Data: ASER and UDISE provide useful data, but continuous data collection is required for better planning.
- Budget and Teacher Recruitment for ECCE: NEP recommends recruiting teachers trained in ECCE pedagogy.
- Education departments must plan long-term budget allocations for teacher training and recruitment. Anganwadis need additional resources to strengthen the early childhood education component alongside health and nutrition services.
- Call for Extending NIPUN Bharat: To sustain and expand these gains, NIPUN Bharat’s timeline should be extended until 2030.
- NIPUN 2.0 should focus on bridging the gap between Grades III-V, ensuring that foundational skills are built upon for higher-order learning.
- Include a stronger focus on Early Childhood Education (ECE) to set children up for success even before they enter primary school.
ASER Overview
- ASER Centre employs simple yet rigorous methods to generate large-scale evidence on the impact of social sector programs and policies, primarily in education.
- Established in January 2008 as an independent unit within Pratham, it builds on Pratham’s experience in enhancing reading and arithmetic skills among children.
- The Centre not only generates and disseminates evidence but also strengthens the link between evidence and action by building the capacity of individuals and institutions.
