Primary education has been universalised with more than 95% of the children below 14 in schools, but the quality of schooling is abysmal.
The recent ASER report reiterates the same.
What are the trends in primary enrolment?
The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) was carried out by NGO Pratham.
While the “Right to Education Act” came into force in 2010, the current trend towards universal elementary education was well in place before that.
As early as 2005, primary enrolment levels were as high as 90%, according to the ASER.
For the first time in India, we are beginning to see cohorts of children almost all of whom have completed eight years of schooling.
While over a little over 11 million were enrolled in Class 8 in 2005-06, the number has almost doubled to around 22 million in 2014-15.
Also, the gender divide seems to have narrowed over the years in the upper primary level, with more girls getting retained in school.
While in 2006, 10% of 13-year-old girls and 21% of 15-year-old girls were not enrolled in school, the numbers for 2016 stands at 4.2% and 14% respectively.
What shows the poor learning levels?
For over a decade, the ASER reports have been pointing out that foundational skills like reading and basic arithmetic are worryingly low for kids in school.
About a quarter of all children in Class 8 struggle with reading simple texts and more than half are still unable to do basic arithmetic operations.
ASER data also suggests a declining trend over time, which means that successive cohorts are doing worse than their previous counterparts.
A hint of this decline was also visible in the analyses done on past rounds of the government’s National Achievement Survey data.
What lies ahead?
Every year we will be “graduating” a cohort of close to 25 million young and hopeful boys and girls from elementary school.
While aspirations run high, learning levels are worryingly insufficient, and are far lower than they should be even based on curricular expectations of Class 8.
While moves to universalise secondary schooling and expand skilling are underway, we also need to prioritise quality enhancement in the primary level.
