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Student numbers go up in govt schools, but learning levels come down: Survey

 Pratham's ninth Annual Status of Education Report
(ASER) released on Wednesday shows that school
education in rural India is a mixed bag of improving
parameters like enrolment and compliance to Right to
Education norms but declining learning outcomes.
Released by Planning Commission deputy chairperson
Montek Singh Ahluwalia amid the usual festive fervour
and wide-eyed surveyors recounting their discovery-of-
India kind of experiences, ASER said over 96% of all
rural children in the age group of 6 to 14 were going to
school. There was further good news as proportion of
girls in the age group of 11 to 14 not enrolled in
schools dropped from 6% in 2012 to 5.5% in 2013.
Uttar Pradesh made the biggest progress as the
percentage dropped from 11.5% in 2012 to 9.4% in
2013. However, patriarchal Rajasthan remains a cause
for worry as the proportion of out of school girls --
aged 11 to 14 - rose for the second consecutive year,
from 8.9% in 2011 to 11.2% in 2012 to 12.1% in 2013.
Though ASER pointed to poor learning level of children,
there was almost negligible increase in enrolment in
private schools; 29% in 2013 to 28.3% in 2012. There
were wide variations in private school enrolment, ASER
said. For instance, in Manipur and Kerala, more than
two-thirds of all children in the 6 to 14 age group were
enrolled in private schools, while less than 10% were in
private schools in Tripura (6.7%), West Bengal (7%),
and Bihar (8.4%).
But the prevalence of private tuition was on the rise
across India. In Tripura, more than 60% of children in
class I-V took private tuition and in West Bengal, it was
over 70%. States like Bihar (52.2%), Odisha (51.2%) and
Manipur (38.9%) also had high incidence of children
taking private tuition.
For the first time, ASER measured the amount families
spend on private tuition and found that 68.4% of class
I-V government school children who went to private
tutors paid Rs 100 or less per month. Among private
school students of class I-V, 36.7% paid Rs 100 or less
per month and the same proportion paid Rs 101 to Rs
200 per month for private tuition.
But learning outcome was a cause for worry.
Disregarding robust National Achievement Survey of
NCERT, ASER claimed to be the only one that mapped
learning level. The report said nationally, the proportion
of class III students who could read at least a class I
level paragraph had risen slightly from 38.8% in 2012 to
40.2% in 2013.
ASER claimed the increase was mainly on account of
improvement among private school children. Among
class III students in government schools, the proportion
who could read class I text remained unchanged from
2012 at 32%. Class III students of Jammu & Kashmir
and Punjab showed steady improvement in reading
ability.
Proportion of class V children who could read class II
level text remained static since 2012 at 47%. In 2009,
the proportion was 52.8%. Class V government school
children who could read class II text declined from
50.3% in 2009 to 41.1% in 2013. More than 60% class V
government school students of Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Mizoram and Kerala could read class II texts.
In arithmetic, 18.9% of class III students in government
schools could do basic subtraction or more, compared
to 44.6% of class III students in private schools. ASER
claimed that in 2010, 33.2% children in class III in
government schools could do subtraction but since
then, there has been a gradual decline.
Also, the proportion of class V students who could
solve a three digit by one digit division problem
increased slightly, from 24.9% in 2012 to 25.6%. Among
class V children in government schools, 20.8% could do
this level of division in 2013. In private schools, this
figure was 38.9%. But in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and
Mizoram, more than 40% government school children
could do three digit by one digit division problems.