GIRLS SHINE IN ACADEMICS, BOYS IN MATHS: ASER REPORT
EDUCATION REPORT 2018 Punjab is among six states that have shown an improvement of more than 5 percentage points when compared with 2016 levels
NEW DELHI: While girls outperform boys in academics, when it comes to basic arithmetic boys seem to hold a substantial advantage over girls, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2018, published by Pratham Education Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
The report said 50% of all boys in the age group 14 to 16 can correctly solve a division problem as compared to 44% of all girls.
The ASER covered 596 districts, 3,54,944 households and 5,46,527 children in the 3-16 age group. The survey took into account three major aspects, including school enrolment and attendance, basic reading and math abilities, and school facilities with sports infrastructure.
According to the report, girls outperformed boys in academics but when it came to basic arithmetic, boys seem to hold a substantial advantage over girls.
For the first time in 2018, the number of children in the 6 to 14 age group, who are not enrolled in school, fell below 3% and stood at 2.8%. In 2006, the all-India proportion of girls in the age group 11 to 14, who were out of school, stood at 10.3%. In that year, nine major states had out of school figures for girls (age 11-14) above 10%, the report stated.
“In 2018, the overall proportion of girls in the 11 to 14 age group out of school has fallen to 4.1%. This figure is more than 5% in only four states. “Further, in 2008, nationally, more than 20% of girls in the 15 to 16 age group were not enrolled in school. In 2018, this figure has decreased to 13.5%,” stated the report.
According to the report, reading abilities of children have also shown gradual improvement. “The percentage of Class 3 children who can read Class 2 level text increased from 21.6% in 2013 to 27.2% in 2018. However, the percentage of children being able to solve arithmetic problems remained nearly stagnant.
CHANDIGARH: It may not be a cause for celebration, yet given the overall poor education standards, here is some good news for Punjab.
The learning levels of students of standard 3 to 8 of have shown an all-round improvement, said the annual status of education report (ASER), 2018, for rural areas released in Delhi on Tuesday. The nationwide survey conducted by Pratham, a non-governmental organisation, said that about 59% children of standard 6 to 8 could do division and 82 read standard 2 level text. The survey is conducted to test children’s ability to read simple text and do basic arithmetic.
There is a jump of 7 percentage points in arithmetic over the 2016 levels, whereas the increase is two percentage points in reading skills. ASER has reported similar improvement in other classes. Among children enrolled in standard 3 in government schools who could read at standard 2 level, Punjab is among six states that have shown an improvement of more than five percentage point over 2016 levels, said the report. Uttar Pradesh, Mizoram, Haryana, Gujarat and Kerala are the other states.
In standard 5 also, the percentage of students who were able to read at least a standard 2 level text is up.
Besides reading skills, kids of government schools have done
THERE IS A JUMP OF 7 PERCENTAGE POINTS IN ARITHMETIC OVER THE 2016 LEVELS, WHEREAS THE INCREASE IS TWO PERCENTAGE POINTS IN READING SKILLS
well in functional skills in arithmetic also. There is a three percentage point increase in the number of standard three children who could do subtraction. Punjab is among the few states where the proportion of children in standard 5 of government schools who could do division has improved by 5 percentage points over 2016 levels, said the report.
About 44% of all children in standard 8 could solve a threedigit by one-digit numerical division problem correctly. “While this figure has gone down from 2016 to 2018 in many states, government school children in some states, including Punjab (48% to 58.4%), have shown substantial improvements in the last two years,” according to ASER report.
In many of these classes and these age groups, girls are doing better than boys in both arithmetic and reading skills.
52% RURAL KIDS ATTEND PRIVATE SCHOOLS
About 52% of the rural children in the 6-14 years age group are enrolled in private schools in the state, showing a margin of 0.5% over 2016.
The percentage of such children going to government schools is 46.7 with about 1% children not going to schools at all, said the report.
There is a reversal of trend in the 15-16 years age group as 53% prefer government schools with about 41% enrolled in private schools. More than 6% rural children aged between 15 and 16 years are out of school.