Despite pandemic, school enrollments were record high last year: ASER

Last year, the post-Covid enrolments in schools touched a record high of 98.4%, as per the latest Annual Status of Education Report released on Thursday.

Amid the fears of consequences and ill-effects of pandemic in all facets, there is some good news finally. Belying all speculations, a latest report reveals that children between the age of 6 and 14 years returned to schools in huge numbers, and broke all previous records of 15 years. The report also reveals that in 2022 in rural India, 75.8 percent of 3-year-olds and 82 percent of 4-year-olds enrolled in some form of pre-school, an increase from the 2018 levels.

The findings are part of the 17th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for 2022 released in New Delhi today. ASER 2022 returned to the field nationwide after a gap of 4 years, reaching 616 rural districts. This year's data is especially valuable as it comes after schools reopened after prolonged closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The household survey recorded the schooling status of children in the age group 3-16 and assessed children aged 5-16 in basic reading and arithmetic.

Here are some of the key findings of the report:

Record high enrollments

One of the major fears following Covid pandemic was its impact on the school-going children who were suddenly restricted to homes and online classes. Pre-Covid, the last national ASER rural field survey was conducted in 2018. That year, the all-India enrolment figure for the age group 6 to 14 was 97.2 percent. The 2022 data shows that this number has increased to 98.4 percent.

So as far as school enrolment is concerned, the pandemic-induced school closures did not lead to widespread dropout for either. Across all age groups, for boys and girls, school enrolment has actually gone up between 2018 and 2022. The proportion of children in this age group who are not currently enrolled has dropped to 1.6 percent.

Significant shift from pvt to govt schools

Along with rising overall enrolment in the period 2018-22, in practically all States and for all age groups, there has been a significant shift in enrolment away from private schools into government schools.

For the country as a whole (all India rural), the percentage of all children aged 11 to 14 who are enrolled in government schools has risen from 65 percent in 2018 to 71.7 in 2022. For boys, the shift to government schools has been from 61.6 percent in 2018 to 69.2 percent in 2022, and for girls, the proportion enrolled in government school grew from 68.4 percent in 2018 to 74.1 percent in 2022, the survey said.

More 3- and 4-year-olds going to schools

According to the report, rubbishing the fears that families would find it difficult for children to return to school, an important finding that emerges for all age groups is that this is far from the case. The report shows that in 2022 in rural India, 75.8 percent of 3-year-olds and 82 percent of 4-year-olds are enrolled in some form of pre-school, an increase of 7.7 and 6 percentage points respectively over 2018 levels.

Nationally, enrolment of 4-year-olds in government pre-schools or schools also increased by 10 percentage points, such that in 2022 more than two thirds of all 4-year-olds (67.8%) are enrolled in government institutions, the vast majority in ICDS Anganwadis.

In 2008, nationally, more than 20 percent of girls in the 15-16 age group were not enrolled in school. Ten years later, in 2018, this figure had decreased to 13.5 percent and now stands at 7.9 percent in 2022. Only 3 States have 10 percent or more of girls in this age group out of school - Madhya Pradesh (17%), Uttar Pradesh (15%) and Chhattisgarh (11.2%).

English reading, arithmetic skills drop

For children who are in Grade-V to -VIII, two skills that are focussed on are the ability to at least read a Grade-II level text fluently and do the three-digit by 1-digit division problem - and track changes, first over the last few years and then over the last decade.

Comparing data from ASER 2022 and ASER 2018, one can see that there has been a decline in learning levels even for basic skills like reading and arithmetic. Interestingly, the drop in arithmetic levels is less than the loss in reading, with children in lower grades suffering more loss than older children.

Nationally, children's basic reading ability has dropped to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow improvement achieved in the intervening years. Drops are visible in both government and private schools in most states, and for both boys and girls, according to the report.

Nationally, children's basic arithmetic levels have declined over 2018 levels for most grades. But the declines are less steep and the picture is more varied than in the case of basic reading. The ASER survey covered 7 lakh children in 19,060 villages across 616 districts in the country.