16th Edition Of The Annual Status Of Education Report (ASER 2021):
The percentage of rural children who were not enrolled in school doubled during the pandemic, with government schools seeing an increase in enrolment at the expense of private schools, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2021.
- Over a third of children enrolled in Classes 1 and 2 have never attended school in person.
- However, enrolment does not necessarily mean that learning took place.
- In a survey of over 76,000 households with children aged six to 14, ASER found that while 92% of children had textbooks for their grade, only a third had access to any other learning resources or support.
- With smartphone availability and access limited, online learning was restricted to a quarter of students, though there were major differences in the experience of students from different States.
- For instance, 91% of students from Kerala and almost 80% from Himachal Pradesh had online education, but only 10% from Bihar and 13% from West Bengal.
