Context:

• The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 is a nationwide rural household survey (facilitated by NGO Pratham) to assess children’s schooling status and their basic reading and arithmetic skills.
• Key findings of the ASER 2024 survey are presented separately for three groups of children: Pre-primary (age group 3-5), elementary (age group 6-14), and older children (age group 15-16).
• The findings highlight a strong recovery from pandemic-induced learning losses and point towards the effectiveness of recent educational reforms.

Key Findings from ASER 2024:

• Enrollment trends:
  • The overall school enrollment rate among 6-14-year-olds stood at 98.1% in 2024, close to 98.4% in 2022.
  • Pre-school enrollment among 3-5-year-olds increased, with a sharp rise among 5-year-olds from 58.5% in 2018 to 71.4% in 2024.
• Recovery in reading skills:
  • The proportion of Class III students able to read at a Class II level has fully recovered from the pandemic setback, reaching 27.1% in 2024 (up from 20.5% in 2022).
  • For Class V students, the percentage of children who can read Class II level text has risen to 48.7% in 2024, compared to 42.8% in 2022, approaching the 50.4% level of 2018.
• Progress in arithmetic skills:
  • The percentage of Class III students able to do basic subtraction rose to 33.7% in 2024, the highest in a decade.
  • The proportion of Class V students who can perform division increased to 30.7% in 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels of 27.8% in 2018.
• Digital literacy insights:
  • ASER 2024 included a section on digital literacy for the first time, focusing on smartphone access, ownership, and basic digital skills among 14-16-year-olds.
  • More boys (85.5%) than girls (79.4%) reported knowing how to use a smartphone.

Performance of Government Schools:

• Improvements in enrollment trends: Government school enrollment, which increased during the pandemic, has nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels - 66.8% in 2024, compared to 65.6% in 2018 and 72.9% in 2022.
• Improvements in learning outcome:
  • In arithmetic, government schools witnessed a 36.6% improvement in subtraction skills in Class III, compared to a 10.2% rise in private schools.
  • The number of Class III children in government schools who can read a Class II textbook stands at 23.4%, up from 16.3% in 2022 and 20.9% in 2018.
• Factors behind the improvement:
  • The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s focus on foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) appears to have played a crucial role.
  • The Union Education Ministry’s Nipun Bharat Mission has been a key driver of learning initiatives in primary education.

State-wise Progress:

• Remarkable recovery in low-performing States:
  • States like UP, Bihar, MP, and Tamil Nadu have shown significant learning gains.
  • In UP, the proportion of Class III government school students reading at Class II level rose from 12.3% in 2018 to 27.9% in 2024.
  • Bihar saw an increase in Class III reading levels from 12.1% in 2018 to 20.1% in 2024 and arithmetic levels from 18% to 28.2%.
• Improvement in high-performing States:
  • States like Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Odisha showed a 10-percentage point increase in reading levels from 2022 to 2024.
  • Uttarakhand recorded a sharp rise in Class III reading levels from 24.7% in 2018 to 35.6% in 2024.

 Conclusion:

• ASER 2024 highlights not just recovery but a transformative shift in India's approach to foundational learning.
• The NEP 2020 has provided a common goal for all states, allowing them to adopt unique strategies for FLN improvement.
• The data underscores a nationwide effort to ensure foundational literacy and numeracy among primary school children, marking a historic milestone in India’s education system.