The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a nationwide survey conducted by an autonomous unit of Pratham, an NGO, since 2005. There are other government sources of educational statistics, such as the Unified District Information System for Education database developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration and the All India Educational Surveys, which are periodically conducted by the NCERT to monitor school progress. But ASER surveys provide one of the most reliable sets of information on the basic skill acquisition of school children across the country, making them extremely popular.

One key factor that distinguishes ASER from others is that it is a household survey where one-on-one assessment is made with every child. The report of the 13th round of ASER for 2018 (released on January 15) once again focused on school participation of children aged 3-16 years and assessed learning outcomes of those aged 5-16 years. The survey covered about 5.5 lakh children from more than 3.5 lakh households across 596 rural districts and also visited 5,998 government schools.

Overall, the findings show a further improvement in school enrolment with the proportion of out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group falling to 2.8 per cent. Enrolment of girls in the 11-14 age group also shows an increase, with the percentage of dropouts decreasing from 10.3 per cent in 2006 to 4.1 per cent in 2018. In an encouraging trend, the proportion of never-enrolled girls in the 15-16 age group saw a decline from 20 per cent to 13.5 per cent at the national level in the same period. Among states, Uttar Pradesh still recorded one of the highest percentages of out-of-school children at 4.9 per cent.

Since 2006, ASER surveys have recorded a consistent increase in the share of private school enrolment. However, this increased only slightly from 30.6 per cent in 2016 to 30.9 per cent in 2018 for the age group of 6-14 years. Yet, inter-state differences in private school enrolment were found to be wide. Reliance on private schooling is highest in Mizoram (70.4 per cent) and Haryana (55.3 per cent). Also, despite an improvement in government school enrolment, some of the large states continue to have a high proportion of private school enrolment. For instance, although the share of private enrolment fell from 52 per cent to 50 per cent in Uttar Pradesh between 2016 and 2018, half of the state’s children, nevertheless, still attend private schools.

According to the report, learning levels remain low at all grades. Nationally, only 27.2 per cent children in Class III can read at the level of Class II. Only about 50 per cent of children in Class V can read at the level of Class II. States that recorded a quantum jump in reading ability between 2016 and 2018 are Kerala (by 10 percentage points), Himachal Pradesh (8 percentage points), Chhattisgarh and Odisha (both 7 percentage points). The survey reveals that skills at the upper primary level has actually declined in the past decade. In 2008, 84.8 per cent of Class VIII students could read a text meant for Class II; by 2014, only 74.6 per cent could do so, and by 2018, this percentage had fallen further to 72.8 per cent. Moreover, wide disparities continue to exist between states. For instance, where over three-quarters of students of Class V from Kerala could read a Class II text, the figure drops to a mere 34 per cent in Jharkhand.

Overall acquisition of arithmetic skill hasn’t shown much improvement from 2016 levels. Only 28.1 per cent children from Class III could do basic subtraction. The proportion from government schools goes down further to 20.9 per cent. ASER finds that by Class V, only 27.9 per cent children could do a division correctly. This figure increases to 44 per cent in Class VIII. As an aggregate, this figure shows little improvement over the years. However, compared to 2016, learning outcomes in mathematics has actually worsened in 2018 in many states. Meghalaya has only 7.2 per cent of Class V students who were able to do a division, while Himachal Pradesh has the highest proportion of students at 56.6 per cent, with a gap for 49.4 percentage points between the two states.

Although this learning deficit is across private and government schools, private school students are relatively better off. For example, while only 40 per cent of Class VIII students in government schools can do a simple division, the proportion increases to 54.2 per cent in private schools.

While the enrolment gap between girls and boys is reducing, ASER 2018 recorded a gender gap in learning outcomes. At the age of 8-10, 36.4 per cent boys could do a basic subtraction, compared to 35.7 per cent girls. This marginal difference grew to 61.1 per cent boys and 58.4 per cent girls being able solve the given arithmetic problem in the 11-13 age category. A further increase of over 5 percentage points was found in the age group of 14-16 where 50 per cent of all boys could solve a division correctly, compared to 44 per cent girls.

While exploring the ability to do everyday tasks like computation, the survey found that only 25.5 per cent girls could calculate the final price of a Rs 300 shirt on a 10 per cent discount, compared to 33.8 per cent boys. Stereotypical perception of mathematics as a masculine subject and household chores that impact girls’ actual participation in classrooms, regardless of enrolment, could be significant factors that influence this widening gap in arithmetic learning of girls and boys as they grow older. However, in some states, such as Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, girls have outperformed boys in both basic reading and arithmetic.

However, girls have an edge over boys in basic reading skills. In the age group of 8-10 years, 36.8 per cent girls could read a text of Class II level, compared to 33.2 per cent boys. Nevertheless, boys caught up by the age of 14-16, where the proportion of both girls and boys who could do basic reading increased to about 77 per cent.

National average school attendance for both teachers and students has remained largely unchanged over the years. Teachers’ attendance has hovered around 85 per cent and students’ at 72 per cent. Inter-state differences are once again pronounced. States such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have over 90 per cent attendance for both students and teachers. Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha and Chhattisgarh recorded considerable improvement in student attendance from 2016 levels. Yet, on a random day, student attendance was below 60 per cent in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and West Bengal.

According to the report, substantial improvements have taken place in availability of school facilities mandated by the Right to Education Act. In 2018, 74.8 per cent of schools had a drinking water facility, 66.4 per cent schools surveyed had usable girls’ toilets, 64.4 per cent schools had a boundary wall and 74.2 per cent had books other than regular textbooks. However, there were glaring inter-state disparities where north-eastern states and Jammu & Kashmir were particularly disadvantaged. According to the report, sports equipment of some kind was observed only in 55.8 per cent of primary schools and 71.5 per cent of upper primary schools. Only 5.8 per cent of all primary schools and 30.8 per cent of upper primary schools had a separate teacher for physical education.

To conclude, although the country has made substantial progress in enrolment and school facilities, much is still to be desired in terms of actual learning outcomes of the students. Moreover, the national average masks wide- ranging regional imbalances, which need urgent attention. ASER 2018 holds a mirror to rural India’s educational scenario where schooling does not equip children even with basic foundational skills and falls grossly short of what is adequate to prepare them for further studies and workforce participation.

Arpan Tulsyan is a Senior Research Scholar at the Department of Social Work, Delhi University. The views expressed here are personal.