Posted by Since 2005, the NGO Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has been recording trends in school enrollment, attendance, and reading and arithmetic abilities among children ages 6-14 years in rural areas of the country.
The 2023 survey focused on an older group of 14-to-18-year-old children, specifically on their ability to apply reading and math skills to everyday situations, and their aspirations. It also sought to capture their access to digital technology, and whether they possess the skills to use it.
The ASER 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’ survey was carried out among 34,745 young respondents in 28 rural districts in 26 states, including two districts each in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
From 2005 to 2014, we did annual surveys on the learning abilities of rural children. We now do such full surveys in alternate years, which allows us to explore something in depth in the gap years. The scale is smaller because it’s 1-2 districts per state, but the angle is much wider.
This year, we decided to focus on this age group.
We had four broad buckets to measure — activity, aspiration, awareness in general, and ability. When we surveyed the same age group in 2017, on the ability front, we did the basic survey on reading and arithmetic; this time there is also a mapping of how ready the children are for everyday activities.
We also added the digital component because a lot has happened in the last 4-5 years to allow for some self-reported questions, such as, ‘do you know how to use a cell phone?’ The survey also included doing some tasks with a phone, such as setting an alarm or searching for information online.
First, children in this age group are doing multiple things, even though that is not always captured by the education sector or the job market. Around 30% are already working, often for their parents. But when asked whether that was what they wanted to do when they grew up, the children say that is not for them.Second, even for doing all kinds of everyday tasks, it seems to be very useful to have some basic skills of reading and math. Just because a child in Class 8 is still struggling with the basics, it does not mean we should not make an effort to reach out to them.
About one in four children in the 14-18 age group still cannot read a Std II-level text fluently in their regional language. Across enrolment categories, girls do better than boys in this respect.
More than half struggle with division (3-digit by 1-digit) problems, a skill that is usually expected in Std III or IV. About 57% can read sentences in English; more than 73% among them can also tell their meanings. Boys do better than girls in both arithmetic and English reading.
The digital component is interesting because, at one level, it shows that everybody knows how to use the basic things. But they’re not using it in depth; they’re using the surface layer, say, mainly engaging with social media. There are also a lot of opportunities there. Beyond school, there could be ways to get young people to develop a much stronger set of digital skills, which will enable them to get over many obstacles.
When asked if they can use a smartphone, more than 90% of respondents children said yes, and this is not exclusive to any gender. But there is a big difference between boys and girls when answering the question, “How many of you own a smartphone?” Boys have much greater access.
About 90% of surveyed households had smartphones. Of the surveyed children, almost 95% boys and 90% girls could use a smartphone.
Across all phone-related tasks assigned to respondents, boys outperformed girls. Performance in digital tasks improved with education level. Ability to perform digital tasks also increased with basic reading proficiency.
Among those who can use a smartphone, two-thirds reported using it for an education-related activity during the reference week, such as watching online videos related to studies, solving doubts, or exchanging notes. Close to 80% reported using their smartphone for an entertainment-related activity, such as watching a movie or listening to music.
School enrollment means that schools and the system can reach out to everyone on the rolls. Whether they are coming every day, sitting in school, is another story.
When you have 85% of an age group that you can reach, you can use that reach to beef up many other components. Face-to-face in the classroom is only one mode of learning. But if you have information on whom you have to reach, you can reach them in many different ways. The school is a convening place, a place to share things. It is a very important platform.
The responses also reflect what is available in their villages. It is possible that someone wants to do science, but their local high school does not have science. But again, there may be other ways to connect to subjects that the local high school does not offer.
The system is also very streamlined, but the New Education Policy of 2020 allows for more flexibility. There should be a way for a student to register for other kinds of learning opportunities. Over some time, it should loosen up; physical restrictions should also loosen — you may not have a physical science teacher, but there are science teachers in the world from whom you should be able to learn.
Dr Rukmini Banerjee is CEO of Pratham. She spoke to Rishika Singh.
What changed for queer people working in corporate India?
Ishq Vishk Rebound is a letdown
Bad Cop review: Gulshan Devaiah-Anurag Kashyap series is fully 'filmi'
The Exorcism puts all through torture
Plants can be ferocious too
Finding love, empathy and compassion in Kabir's songs
Gullak S4 shares Mishra's challenges with grown-up sonsSubscriber Only
How India's traditional fashion is taking the world by storm
Is vegetable biryani just dolled up pulao?