The Ninth Annual Status of Education Report (ASER 2013) released in New Delhi on 15 January 2014. ASER Andhra Pradesh Report 2013. The Annual Status of Education Report, ASER 2013 was released in New Delhi today by Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. This is the ninth annual report. This is the Provisional ASER Report 2013 and the Final Report will be available on March 1st 2014.
ASER is the largest annual household survey of children in rural India that focuses on the status of schooling and basic learning. Facilitated by Pratham, in each rural district ASER is conducted by local organizations, and institutions. ASER 2013 reached 550 districts and close to 16,000 villages, 3.3 lac households and 6 lac children in the age group 3-16.
Every year, ASER finds out whether children in rural India go to school, whether they can read simple text and whether they can do basic arithmetic. In 2005, 2007, and every year since 2009, ASER has also included a visit to one government school in each sampled village. Since the implementation of the RTE Act in 2010, school visits in ASER have included indicators of compliance with those norms and standards specified in the Right to Education Act that are easy to measure. In 2013, ASER visited 14,724 government schools.
ASER is the largest annual household survey of children in rural India that focuses on the status of schooling and basic learning. Facilitated by Pratham, in each rural district ASER is conducted by local organizations, and institutions. ASER 2013 reached 550 districts and close to 16,000 villages, 3.3 lac households and 6 lac children in the age group 3-16.
Every year, ASER finds out whether children in rural India go to school, whether they can read simple text and whether they can do basic arithmetic. In 2005, 2007, and every year since 2009, ASER has also included a visit to one government school in each sampled village. Since the implementation of the RTE Act in 2010, school visits in ASER have included indicators of compliance with those norms and standards specified in the Right to Education Act that are easy to measure. In 2013, ASER visited 14,724 government schools.
ASER 2013: KEY FINDINGS
Enrollment in the 6-14 age group continues to be very high, with more than 96% of children enrolled in school. The proportion of out of school girls in the 11 to 14 age group has declined since last year.- Overall, enrollment numbers remain very high. Over 96% of all children in the age group 6 to14 years are enrolled in school. This is the fifth consecutive year that enrollment levels have been 96% or more.
- Nationally, there is a slight increase over 2012 in private school enrollment. The proportion of children taking paid private tuition classes has also increased slightly since last year.
- For the age group 6 to 14, there has been a steady increase in private school enrollment from 18.7% in 2006 to 29% in 2013. The increase in private school enrollment since last year has been very small, from 28.3% in 2012 to 29% in 2013.
There are wide variations in private school enrollment across rural India. In Manipur and Kerala more than two thirds of all children in the 6 to 14 age group are enrolled in private schools. Less than 10% are in private school in Tripura (6.7%), West Bengal (7%), and Bihar(8.4%), although these numbers have grown substantially since 2006. - As with private schooling, the incidence of private tuition varies across states. The proportion of children in Std. I-V who receive some form of private input into their schooling (private school, private tuition or both) has increased from 38.5% in 2010 to 42% in 2011, 44.2% in 2012 and to 45.1% in 2013.
Since last year no significant improvement is visible in children’s ability to read. - At the All India level, for Std. III, the proportion of children able to read at least a Std. I level paragraph has risen slightly from 38.8% in 2012 to 40.2% in 2013. This increase is mainly coming from improvements among private school children. Among Std. III students in government schools the proportion of children able to read Std. I level text remains unchanged from 2012 at around 32%.
- States which show steady improvement in reading ability among Std. III students since 2009 are Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab.
- Nationally, Among Std. V children enrolled in government schools, the percentage of children able to read Std. II level text decreased from 50.3% (2009) to 43.8% (2011) to 41.1% (2013).
- Children are still struggling with basic arithmetic
- At the All India level, no change is observed since last year in the proportion of Std. III children who are able to solve a two-digit subtraction with borrowing. This level of arithmetic is part of the curriculum for Std. II in most states.
- In 2013, 18.9% of Std. III students in government schools were able to do basic subtraction or more, as compared to 44.6% of Std. III children in private schools. Despite these differences, overall levels across the board are worryingly low.
- Nationally, the proportion of all children in Std. V who could solve a three-digit by one-digit division problem increased slightly, from 24.9% in 2012 to 25.6% in 2013. Among Std. V children in government schools, 20.8% children could do this level of division in 2013. The figure for private schools is 38.9%. In arithmetic, a large fraction of children are lagging several years behind where they are expected to be. In 2013, over 40% of government school children inStd. V in three states, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Mizoram could do three-digit by one-digit division problems
