Reading ability in primary classes abysmal, says ASER 2024 report
Enrolment in anganwadis has increased in the last 2 years, and attendance has improved as well. Almost all schools serve mid-day meals but very few have fully functional usable toilets
CHENNAI: The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Tuesday highlighted various factors where school children in Tamil Nadu both excelled and performed badly in the 2024 survey.
The largest government school with primary sections were visited by the ASER team and overall, 534 schools were inspected.
Under the ‘school enrollment’ factor, out of children enrolled in government schools, 67% girls and 62.2% boys in primary classes were studying in State-run schools. In classes 6-8, around 75% girls and 71.3% boys were enrolled in government schools. Further, only 13.3% of 5-year-old kids were enrolled in anganwadi in 2024, as opposed to 18% in 2022. In ages 3 and 4 as well, the percentage declined in 2024 compared to 2022.
In 2024, around 76% of 3-year-olds and 48% of 4-year-olds were enrolled in Anganwadi, while two years ago, it was 78.3% and 58.8% respectively. The numbers fared decently in terms of enrollment in government-run pre-primary establishments compared to 2022.
The most interesting details of the report were revealed under the ‘reading’ factor of the survey. Learning assessment was conducted in households for children among 5-16 years, both studying in government and private schools. It revealed that 43.4% of Class 1 children, 16.9% of Class 2 children and 8.6% of Class 3 children (both government and private schools) were unable to even read a letter. Around 24.8 percent of Class 3, over 30% of Class 4 and more than 34% of Class 5 children were unable to read Class 1 level text.
Subsequently over 35% of Class 5, around 45% of Class 6, over 56% of Class 7 and 64.2% of Class 8 children were unable to read Class 2 level text. Interestingly, the report compared with assessments done in previous years, which showed that the performance of Class 3 children in government schools has been consistently better than those in private schools.
Children in Class 3 who can read Class 2 level text are 16% (government school), and 14% (private school) in 2014. Two years later, it was 20.2% and 13.5% respectively. In 2018, among kids in Class 3, 11% in government schools and over 7% in private schools could read Class 2 text. In 2022, these numbers dipped drastically to 4.7% and 5% respectively, which improved remarkably with 13.2% children in government schools and 9.4% in private schools.
The percentage of Class 5 students in government schools and private schools who could read Class 2 level text was at 37% and 32.3% respectively. Additionally, the percentage of Class 8 students who can read class 2 level text stood at 62% and 70% in respective school types.
Under the ‘school observation’ factor, around 90% children enrolled in primary classes and 92% of teachers were present in school. However, in middle and higher classes, 86% students and 89% teachers had reported to the school.
It was also found that 32% of Class 1 children and 10.5% of Class 2 children were unable to even recognise single digit numbers between 1-9. Among Class 3 kids, 5.9% could not recognise numbers from 1-9, over 15% percent could recognise numbers upto 9 but not numbers up to 99 or higher, 51% could not do subtraction, and 25% could not do division and only 2.2% could do division.
Under digital literacy, 91% 14-year-olds have a smartphone, but only 74.3% could perform a digital task. Interestingly, between ages 14 and 16 years, 32% have a smartphone of their own.
