Context: Recently, the Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey has been released which provides a glimpse into the levels of learning loss that students in rural India are suffering, with varying levels of access to technology, school and family resources resulting in a digital divide in education.

• This year, in the wake of the pandemic, the survey was conducted via phone calls, reaching 52,227 rural households with school-age children in 30 States and Union Territories (UTs).

Key highlights of the ASER report

About 20% of rural children in India have no textbooks at home due to COVID-19.

• Andhra Pradesh - less than 35% of children had textbooks
• Rajasthan- only 60% had textbooks
• West Bengal, Nagaland and Assam – more than 98% had textbooks      

In a week, survey found that

• One in three rural children had done no learning activity.
• Two in three had no learning materials or activity given by their school.
• Only one in ten had access to live online classes.
• A third of children with smartphone access still did not receive any learning materials.
• Two thirds of rural children nationwide not received any learning materials or activities at all.
• The 5.3% of rural children aged 6-10 years had not yet enrolled in school this year, in comparison to just 1.8% in 2018.

About 10% of six-year-olds are not enrolled in school.

• The enrolment levels are actually slightly higher than in 2018 among 15-16-year-olds.
• A slight shift toward government schools. The private schools seeing a drop in enrolment in all age groups.
• In 2018, about 36% of rural households with school-going children had smartphones.
• By 2020, that figure had spiked to 62%. About 11% of families bought a new phone after the lockdown, of which 80% were smartphones.

On technology front

• WhatsApp was by far the most popular mode of transmitting learning materials to students, with 75% of students getting some input via the messaging app. 
• Of the 70% who did some activities, 11% had access to live online classes, and 21% had videos or recorded classes, with much higher levels in private schools.

About 60% studied from their textbooks, and 20% watched classes broadcast on TV.
Role of parents

• Parental levels of education and resources played a key role in whether children studied at home.
• About 20% of children whose parents had less than five years of education got learning materials, compared to 46% among parents who had studied beyond Class IX themselves.
• Almost 40% in low education households got no materials and did no learning, compared to 17% of high education families.
• Almost 40% of low education families persevered and did some learning activities even without receiving any learning materials at all.

Suggestions

• Fluid Situation: When schools reopen, it will be important to continue to monitor who goes back to school as well as to understand whether there is learning loss as compared to previous years.
• Building on and Strengthening Family Support: Parents’ increasing levels of education can be integrated into planning for learning improvement, as advocated by National Education Policy, 2020. Reaching parents at the right level is essential to understand how they can help their children and older siblings also play an important role.
• Hybrid Learning: As children do a variety of different activities at home, effective ways of hybrid learning need to be developed which combine traditional teaching-learning with newer ways of “reaching-learning”.
• Assessment of Digital Modes and Content: In order to improve digital content and delivery for the future, an in-depth assessment of what works, how well it works, who it reaches, and who it excludes is needed.
• Mediating the Digital Divide: Children from families who had low education and also did not have resources like smartphones had less access to learning opportunities. However, even among such households, there is evidence of effort with family members trying to help and schools trying to reach them. These children will need even more help than others when schools reopen.

About ASER Survey

• ASER is a nationwide survey of rural education and learning outcomes in terms of reading and arithmetic skill in the age group of 5-16 years.
• It is conducted by the NGO Pratham for the last 15 years.
• This year, the survey was conducted via phone calls with school age children in 30 States and Union Territories.
• The survey provides data on children’s schooling and learning for a representative sample of children across rural India.
• It is the only annual source of information about children’s foundational skill in the country.

Road Ahead'

• In a year marred by Covid-19, deep economic distress and uncertainty over school-reopenings. The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) underlines there are more children in government schools than two years ago. Also there is a significant number of them are not enrolled in the current academic year.
• The nationally representative sample highlighted the role played by the families where everyone in the family supported children regardless of their education levels. This strength needs to be leveraged by reaching out to more students and reducing the distance between schools and homes.