Struggle with division, lacking reading skills... ASER report reveals learning levels of Indian teens

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2023 'Beyond Basics' on Wednesday shed light on the educational levels of children in rural India. The national survey was facilitated by the Pratham Education Foundation and has been carried out every alternate year since 2005.

The survey is done to get an understanding of whether children in rural India are enrolled in school or not, as well as to see their learning progress.

Revealing the significant challenges in education, the annual report pointed out that while a commendable 86.8 per cent of 14-18-year-olds are enrolled in educational institutions, a concerning 25 per cent within this age group struggle to read fluently at a second-grade level in their regional language.While women outperform men in reading second-grade level texts in their regional language (at 76 per cent), men excel in arithmetic and English reading, the report said.

The survey is based on the data gathered on the enrollment status, basic reading, and arithmetic levels of rural youth.The ASER 2023 report also shed light on mathematics proficiency gender imbalances and course preferences.

The report underscored the reading difficulties among teenagers, stating that "nearly 85 per cent of surveyed youth can measure length using a scale when the starting point is 0 cm. This proportion drops sharply to 39 per cent when the starting point is moved".

The findings reveal a broader issue, with only 50 per cent of youth adept at common calculations like time, weights, and unitary methods.

As far as mathematics competence is concerned, the report highlighted a significant gap in mathematics skills, with "more than half struggling with division (3-digit by 1-digit) problems".

Shockingly, only 43.3 per cent of 14-18-year-olds can correctly solve such problems, a skill typically expected in third and fourth grade.

With regards to gender disparities,intriguingly, the survey exposed gender disparities in educational pursuits. It noted that only 28.1 per cent of women are likely to pursue STEM courses, compared to 36.3 per cent of men in the same age bracket.

The ASER survey also touchedupon English proficiency, stating that just over half of the surveyed youth (57.3 per cent) can read sentences in English.

Of those, an encouraging 73.5 per cent can comprehend the meanings of the sentences.

Educational streams chosen by students

The report also highlighted the educational streams being chosen by students.As students progress to 11th grade or higher, the report observedthat 55.7 per cent are enrolled in the Arts or Humanities stream, followed by STEM at 31.7 per cent and Commerce at 9.4 per cent.

The survey was conducted in 28 districts across 26 states and reached 34,745 youth in one rural district in each major state. In an exception, two rural districts were surveyed in each Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

(With inputs from agencies)