Reading abilities decline among rural students, finds ASER report

BENGALURU: The Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2016, released on Wednesday, brought to light a disturbing trend – the number of students in classes four to eight in rural Karnataka who can read a class two textbook (an

ASER

testing technique) has declined by more than 5% in the past two years. Interestingly, learning levels appear to have dropped sharply in private schools, in comparison to government institutions.

One of the key objectives of the survey is to assess the basic reading and arithmetic abilities of school students in rural areas in Karnataka. The report is the result of an extensive survey of 808 schools – both government and private – in rural areas the state. Besides reading, the report is also an indicator of ability of the students to do basic arithmetic.

Among private schools, the percentage of class five students who could perform division has dropped from 33.2% in 2014 to 28.1% in ’16, while the corresponding numbers for government school students were 16.7% and 17.2% respectively.

The report revealed that the number of class three students in government schools who could perform subtraction had increased by 3.6% in the past two years – from 21.9% in 2014 to 25.5% in ’16. Also, the arithmetic proficiency of class eight students reflected a positive trend. While 37% of class 8 students of both private and government schools, could perform basic division in 2014, the number rose to 42.2% in ’16.

Decrease in dropout rate

Although a significant number of students in the 15-16 age group continue to remain out of school, the dropout rate declined from 12.4% in 2014 to 9.7% in 2016. Besides high school students, number of dropouts has decreased, albeit slightly, among middle and primary schoolchildren as well.

Between 2006 and 2016, the number of children staying out of schools has decreased. While the number of boys in this age group, who are out of school has come down to 2%, while it has dropped to 2.1% for girls. Bucking the trend of girls staying out of school, which had been observed in the past, the enrolment rate appeared to have equalised in 2016.

More schools equipped with lavatory facilties

Lack of drinking water facilities at rural schools continues to remain a problem. While 12.7% of these schools lacked this facility in 2014, the number jumped to 15% in 2016.

However, more schools appear to have equipped themselves with separate lavatory facilities for girls in the past two years – while 55.1% of rural schools had lavatory facilities in 2014, in 2016 59.3% of the institutions were found to have them. However, 11.6% of them are in a unuseable condition.

While computer education appeared to be gaining in prominence in rural schools, with the number of institutions with computers increasing by more than 5% in two years, libraries did not fare too well. In 2012, 5.8% of the schools had libraries, while the number was 8.4% in 2016. This despite libraries becoming a key aspect in the Right to Education Act.

Teachers returning to system they obtained education from

Reading comes through practice. But unfortunately, there isn't much being done to cultivate the habit of reading among students in rural areas. Furthermore, a section of teachers aren't very good at reading either. Nearly 15-20% of those graduating from teaching courses are returning to the system with the education they obtained thereby perpetuating the same system of training.

Also, we don't have a good system to promote reading habits. Classrooms have books for students to read, but seldom are they used to actively improve the reading skills. Even at homes, lack of encouragement often deters students from taking up reading. There is still much to be done on this front.

- AS Seetharamu | Former senior consultant, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan