Report on “Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Chhattisgarh (Rural) 2021” was released recently. The report highlights the learning crisis created by covid-19 pandemic induced lockdowns, since March 2020.

Highlights

Report highlights that, proportion of primary school children who cannot recognize letters of the alphabet have increased double fold since 2018. Furthermore, fewer students can now do basic division or subtraction.

Parameters for assessment

Trained surveyors were on field to assess if children were acquiring foundational reading and arithmetic skills. Surveyed children were given reading tasks in local languages for evaluating familiarity with set of commonly used letters, words and set of four simple linked sentences in class 1 & 2 textbooks. They were also evaluated on recognising numbers 1 to 99, 2-digits subtraction problems and 3-digit division problems.

Two-Stage Survey

• The two-stage survey was conducted in October-November 2021 across 28 districts of Chhattisgarh. These districts lag behind in multiple social indicators. Survey covered 46,021 children from 33,432 households of 1,677 villages.
• In the first stage, 60 villages across each district were sampled, based on census 2011.
• In the next stage, 20 households were sampled randomly in each of the villages selected in first round.
• The sampling strategy provides a sample of 1,200 households from each district and generates a representative picture.

Key findings of the report

• Reading and numerical abilities have taken a severe beating.
• Number of children who were unable to recognise even letters in classes 2, 3, and 6 has increased double fold, since 2018. In class 2, it increased from 19.5% to 37.6%; in class 3, it increased from 10.4% to 22.5% while in class 6, it increased from 2.5% to 4.8%.
• In class 3, only 12.3% students were able to read class 2-level text.
• Number of children who were unable to recognise single-digit numbers has increased from 11.4% to 24.3% in class 2, since 2018.
• Findings on enrolment in the state are among very few positive aspects, captured by the survey. Enrolment in government school has increased from 76.4% in 2018 to 82.9% in 2021, in 6-14 years of age group.

By: Brijesh Kumar