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Mahesh

18/01/24 10:01 AM IST

ASER survey results

In News
  • Since 2005, the NGO Pratham’s Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has been recording trends in school enrollment, attendance, and reading and arithmetic abilities among children ages 6-14 years in rural areas of the country.
ASER survey
  • The 2023 survey focused on an older group of 14-to-18-year-old children, specifically on their ability to apply reading and math skills to everyday situations, and their aspirations.
  • It also sought to capture their access to digital technology, and whether they possess the skills to use it.
  • The ASER 2023 ‘Beyond Basics’ survey was carried out among 34,745 young respondents in 28 rural districts in 26 states, including two districts each in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Key findings
  • First, children in this age group are doing multiple things, even though that is not always captured by the education sector or the job market.
  • Around 30% are already working, often for their parents. But when asked whether that was what they wanted to do when they grew up, the children say that is not for them.
  • Second, even for doing all kinds of everyday tasks, it seems to be very useful to have some basic skills of reading and math.
  • Just because a child in Class 8 is still struggling with the basics, it does not mean we should not make an effort to reach out to them.
  • About one in four children in the 14-18 age group still cannot read a Std II-level text fluently in their regional language. Across enrolment categories, girls do better than boys in this respect.
  • More than half struggle with division (3-digit by 1-digit) problems, a skill that is usually expected in Std III or IV.
  • About 57% can read sentences in English; more than 73% among them can also tell their meanings. Boys do better than girls in both arithmetic and English reading.
Enrollment
  • About 90% of surveyed households had smartphones. Of the surveyed children, almost 95% boys and 90% girls could use a smartphone.
  • Across all phone-related tasks assigned to respondents, boys outperformed girls. Performance in digital tasks improved with education level. Ability to perform digital tasks also increased with basic reading proficiency.
  • Among those who can use a smartphone, two-thirds reported using it for an education-related activity during the reference week, such as watching online videos related to studies, solving doubts, or exchanging notes.
  • Close to 80% reported using their smartphone for an entertainment-related activity, such as watching a movie or listening to music.
Source- Indian Express

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