Beyond Basics: ASER 2023

Context: The findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 was released recently. 

About ASER survey:

• The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is a nationwide citizen-led household survey that provides a snapshot of the status of children’s schooling and learning in rural India.
  • First implemented in 2005, the 'basic’ ASER survey was conducted annually until 2014 and switched to an alternate-year cycle in 2016. 
  • The ‘basic’ ASER collects information about enrollment in pre-school and school for children in the age group of 3 to 16, and assesses children aged 5 to 16 one-on-one to understand their foundational reading and arithmetic abilities.
• ASER 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’ surveyed the age 14-18 group in 28 districts across 26 states in India to understand their foundational reading and arithmetic abilities.
• One rural district was surveyed in each major state, with the exception of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, where two rural districts were surveyed. A random sample of 60 villages was visited in each district.
  • Survey reached:
    • Villages = 1,664
    • Households = 30,074
    • 14-18 youth surveyed = 34,745.

Major Highlights of the Beyond Basics survey 2023: 

• Literacy:
  • Nearly 25 percent of rural youth in the age group of 14-18 cannot read a class 2 level text “fluently,” even if it is in their regional language.
  • Some 57.3 percent can read sentences in English. And of those who can read sentences in English, nearly 75 percent of them can tell their meanings.
  • Incidentally, females (76 percent) do better than males (70.9 percent) in reading a grade II-level text in their regional language. 
• Numeracy:
  • More than half struggle with division (3-digit by 1-digit) problems. Only 43.3 percent of the age group is able to solve such problems correctly. This skill is usually expected in Standard III and Standard IV.
  • Males do better than their female counterparts in arithmetic and English reading.
  • In doing basic mathematics, over 60 percent are able to do the budget management task; about 37 percent can apply a discount; and only about 10 percent can calculate repayment. 
• Digital awareness: 
  • Close to 90 percent of youth have a smartphone in the household and know how to use it.
  • Twice as many males (43.7 percent) than females (19.8 percent) can use a smartphone.
  • Almost 90.5 percent of the youth surveyed used social media, but just about half of them are familiar with the online safety settings.
  • Two-thirds of smartphone users have used it for some education-related activity like watching online videos, solving doubts, or exchanging notes.
• Enrollment: 86.8 percent of 14- to 18-year-olds are enrolled in an educational institution. The percentage of youth not enrolled is a high 32.6 percent for 18-year-olds but low for 14-year-olds at 3.9 percent.
  • In Class XI or higher, more than half are enrolled in the Arts/Humanities stream (55.7 per cent).
  • Females are less likely to be enrolled in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) stream. Against 28.1 percent females, around 36.3 per cent males were enrolled in the stream.
• Vocational education: 5.6 percent of the youth took vocational training or other related courses, most of which were 6 months or less.

What is Foundational Literacy and Numeracy?

• Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) refers to basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. It is the ability to read and understand a basic text and perform simple mathematical calculations by the end of grade 3. 
• Strong literacy and numeracy help children to learn, experiment, reason and create, to be active and informed citizens, and to contribute socially, culturally and economically. 
• National Education Policy, 2020 accords the highest importance to the achievement of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy. 

Challenges in achievement of Foundational literacy and numeracy in India:

• Lack of Early childcare and education: Over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6. Presently, quality ECCE is not available to crores of young children, particularly children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
• Poor status of Anganwadis: The Anganwadi workers (AWW) are overworked, with duties and responsibilities that centre around her being a teacher, a nurse and a social service provider. AWW are not equipped with the necessary tools to be able to engage children in learning experiences.
• Poor pedagogic skills and Linguistic issues: The medium of instruction is often different from the mother tongue of children. It negatively impacts the child’s motivation to engage in classroom processes. 
• Nutritional deficiencies among children: The relationship between nutrition, health and learning is undeniably strong. But, as per GHI 2023, India has the highest child wasting rate (18.7%) of all the countries. 
• Inadequate budget: The National Education Policy of 1968 recommended that India spend 6% of its GDP on education. However, even today, as per the Economic Survey (2019--20), India 20), India spends only 3.1% of its GDP on education. 
• Inadequate infrastructure: Though RTE act (2009) mandated basic infrastructure in schools like toilets, safe drinking water, playground etc, data shows that the basics are yet to be ensured in all the schools.
• Low pupil to teacher ratio: As per the Right to Education Act (RTE, 2009) the desired Teacher Pupil ratio (TPR) has been set to 1:35. But, according to NEUPA report, around 42% of government elementary schools have only one or two teachers for all the elementary grades.

Nipun Bharat Program: 

• The Ministry of Education has launched a National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) in 2021, under the aegis of the centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. 
• Aim: To ensure that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27.
• A five-tier implementation mechanism will be set up at the National- State- District- Block- School level in all States and UTs.
• Implementing agency: The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education.

Way Forward: 

• Increase budget allocation, with focused investment on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.
• Since nutrition and education are both equally important and require significant time and effort, it may be worthwhile to consider having two AWWs per Anganwadi.
• Provision of Primary education in Mother tongue. 
• Ensure minimum instruction time in schools and learning at home. The Right to Education Act (2009) requires that children from grade I-V spend 200 days involving 800 instruction hours in school.