Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021

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Part of: Prelims and GS II – Education

Context Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 was recently released.

Key findings of the report

Pandemic effect: The percentage of rural children who were not enrolled in school doubled during the pandemic.
Increase in enrolment: Government schools saw an increase in enrolment at the expense of private schools.
- Government school enrolment spiked significantly from 64.3% in 2018 to 70.3% in 2021, while private school enrolment dropped from 32.5% to 24.4% over the same period.

Reasons for enrolment shift: Financial distress, the closure of affordable private schools and the movement of migrants to rural areas

- Never attended school: Over a third of children enrolled in Classes 1 and 2 have never attended school in person.
- Lack of learning resources: While 92% of children had textbooks for their grade, only one third of them had access to any other learning resources or support.
- Limited smartphone availability: With smartphone availability and access limited, online learning was restricted to a quarter of students.
- Varied experiences: 91% of students from Kerala and almost 80% from Himachal Pradesh had online education, but only 10% from Bihar and 13% from West Bengal.

Private tuition: 40% of the school children are now opting for private tuition classes compared to 30% in 2018. This proportion has increased across both sexes and all grades and school types. The incidence of tuition has increased across all States except Kerala.

Suggestions

Government schools and teachers are equipped and given the necessary resources for this surge in enrolment.

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