BHUBANESWAR: An increasing number of children in the age group of 6 to 14 are entering government schools in Odisha. But when it comes to basic reading ability among the 5 to 16-year-olds enrolled in both government and private schools, the skill has sharply dropped.
The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) of 2022, which was released in New Delhi on Wednesday, shows that despite the Covid-19 pandemic disruptions the percentage of children enrolled in government schools rose sharply from 88.0 per cent (pc) in 2018 to 92.1 pc in 2022. The proportion of children in this age group who are not currently enrolled has decreased to 0.8 pc.
An improvement marker in the survey was that only around 1.2 pc of girls in the age group of 11 to 14 and 7.3 pc in 15 to 16 years age are out of schools at present.The 2022 edition of the citizen-led household survey done after a gap of four years was carried out throughout 900 villages across all the 30 districts and covered 17,786 households and 28,780 children in the age group 3 to 16, stated Pratham Education Foundation, which did the survey and prepared the report.
Along with enrolment, the number of students at elementary level taking tuition has also been increasing in the state. Between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of children in Class I to VIII in both government and private schools taking paid private tuition classes increased from from 52.9 pc to 53.6 pc.
While ASER-2022 shows an increase in enrolment, it also highlights that the basic reading ability has dropped in students. The ASER reading test assessed whether a child can read letters, words or a simple paragraph at the Class 1 level of difficulty, or a story at the Class 2 level of difficulty.
The test was administered one on one to all children in the age group of 5 to 16 in sampled households. “The percentage of children in Class III in government or private schools who can read at Class II level dropped from 38.6 pc in 2018 to 29.8 pc in 2022,” the report stated. It added that children’s basic reading ability has dropped to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow improvement achieved in the intervening years.
The basic arithmetic level of students in Class III also declined, but marginally. Percentage of children in Class III who could do a basic subtraction saw a drop from 30.8 pc in 2018 to 29.3 pc last year. But, there was an improvement when it comes to Class V (from 25.5 pc in 2018 to 28.3 pc now) and Class VIII students (42.3 pc to 43.1 pc) doing a division.
The ASER officials also surveyed 362 primary and 445 upper primary schools in the state where they found that the proportion of government schools with less than 60 students enrolled every year has increased over the decade. While the percentage of such small schools was 21.4 pc in 2010, it went up to 31.6 pc in 2018 and stayed at 30.8 pc last year. Notwithstanding the 5T transformation project of the state government, the proportion of multi-grade classrooms (where students of multiple grades share one classroom) has also risen from 79.1 pc in 2018 to 81.6 pc in 2022.
INFRA HIGHLIGHTS
Useable toilets percentage in schools rose from 75.7 pc in 2018 to 82.1 pc in 2022
Provision of separate useable toilet for girls increased from 69.1 pc in 2018 to 76.5 pc in 2022
Electricity connection extended to 93.7 pc schools now against 56.5 pc in 2018