Enrollment in govt schools rose by 5 percentage points in 2021: ASER Survey 2021

The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) survey highlighting the transition in the education system in the country was released by Wilima Wadhwa, Director, ASER Centre. As per the report, children enrollment in government schools has increased from 65.8%  in 2020 to 70.3% in 2021. It was 64.3 % in 2018.

• The report was prepared based on a phone survey covering 75,234 children aged 5-16 across 581 rural districts in 25 states.

Key Points:
i.The number of students depending on tuition classes also raise from 32.5% in 2020 ASER survey to 39.2%. This rise is due to the prolonged closure of schools.
ii.The enrollment in private schools has dipped, for the first time in recent years, from 28.8% in 2020 to 24.4% in 2021.
iii.In case of Digital divide, 26.1% children with smartphones at home have no access to the device. Among younger children, this scenario effects 40%.

• The smartphone penetration has doubled in rural India, from 36.5% in 2018, to 61.8% in 2020 to 67.6% in 2021.
• In Bihar and West Bengal the smartphone penetration is 60%, while Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have near universal availability of these devices in households.

iv.The rise in enrollment in government schools is nearly uniform across age groups and grades. In the 7-10 age group among boys and girls, the share has risen from 60% to 68% and 68% to 72% respectively.

• In Uttar Pradesh, government school enrollment has risen by 13 percentage points.
• In southern states, except Telangana, there is a rise in enrollment of about 8 percentage points.

v.About 73.1% school respondents have received training for implementation of COVID prevention measures in 2021.
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In accordance with the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, ‘Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019’ released on September 10, 2021, more than half of India’s agricultural households were in debt, with an average outstanding of Rs 74,121 in 2018 as compared to Rs 47,000 in 2013, an increase of 57.7%.
About Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)
It is a nationwide survey of rural education and learning outcomes in terms of reading and arithmetic skills that has been conducted by the NGO Pratham for the last 15 years.

• ASER 2020 is the first ever phone-based ASER survey and it was conducted in September 2020, the sixth month of national school closures.