THE NINTH ANNUAL STATUS OF EDUCATION Report (ASER) 2013 — the sole national survey measuring learning outcomes in rural government and private primary schools (classes I-VIII) conducted by the acclaimed Mumbai-based NGO Pratham — depicts a downtrend in learning outcomes in rural India, which hosts 67 percent of the national population. This annual survey assesses the reading and numeracy skills of elementary students in the rural hinterland countrywide.

ASER 2013 indicates that despite increase in government spending on elementary education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and imposition of 2 percent education cess on taxpayers since 2004 which yields an estimated Rs.4,000-5,000 crore per annum, there is a steady flight from government to private primaries, and greater reliance on private tuitions to improve children’s learning outcomes.“The guarantee of education is meaningless if there is no satisfactory learning. There are serious implications for India’s equity and growth if basic learning outcomes do not improve soon,” warn the authors of ASER 2013, released on January 15.

The survey was conducted by over 25,000 trained volunteers from colleges and NGOs who tested 600,000 children in the age group 3-16 years in 550 districts of 26 states, 16,000 villages and 300,000 households. Depressingly, this intensive survey indicates that the percentage of class V children who can read class II textbooks has decreased from a dismal 52.8 percent in 2009 to a worse 46.9 percent in 2013. Likewise the percentage of class V children who can solve simple three-digits by one-digit division sums (which they should have learned in class III) has inched up to an abysmal 25.16 percent.

Significantly, the percentage of class V children who can do basic division in private schools is 38.9 percent as against 20.5 percent in government primaries. Little wonder that even among the poorest households, the flight to fees-levying private schools is gaining momentum. In 2013, 29 percent of children in the 6-14 age group nationwide were in private elementaries as against 17 percent in 2005.

“The issues of quality of learning have remained largely neglected over the past nine years. Government policies and plans are still centred around villages and rural areas. There is a need to urgently deal with growing urbanisation and the trend of enrolment in private schools in urban and rural areas. Banning private schools or even curtailing them is no more a democratic option unless a visibly better government school alternative can be presented. By introducing 25 percent reservation for economically weaker sections, the RTE Act, 2009 has in fact opened the door for unaided schools being aided by government,” says Madhav Chavan, president of Pratham.

In Maharashtra, although the 59 percent class V children who can read class II texts is above the national average (47 percent), primary learning outcomes are in decline. In 2009, over 70 percent of class V children could read class II textbooks and 63 percent in 2011. In 2013 only 59 percent can do so. Likewise in 2009, while 51.1 percent could manage division sums, a shocking 18.1 percent of class V children did so in 2013 — well below the already abysmal national average (25.16 percent).

Comments Simantini Dhuru, an education activist and currently director of the Avehi Abacus project, an initiative of the AVEHI Charitable Trust to develop supplementary curriculums for municipal schools in Mumbai: “It’s clear there’s a lack of political will to build an effective, equitable school system. The government has abdicated its responsibility of providing accessible, quality education which is a fundamental right of every child.”

The pathetic learning — particularly numeracy — outcomes of primary school children in Maharashtra is an ominous augury for India’s most industrialised state. Neck deep in corruption scandals, quite obviously the ruling Congress-NCP government of Maharashtra has little time or patience to address the issue of improving the learning outcomes of the state’s 16.23 million children in elementary education.

Sunayana Nair (Mumbai)