In early yrs , parents prefer pvt schools for kids
ASER REPORT Over 60% children in age group of 4-6 in rural areas of the state go to private pre-primary centres
CHANDIGARH : Despite the state government pulling out all the stops to increase enrolment in pre-primary sections of its schools, private schools still remain the preferred choice among parents in Punjab.
Over 60% children in the age group of 4-6 in rural areas go to private pre-primary centres or schools in the state, according to the findings of the 14th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The ASER 2019 ‘Early Years’ is based on a survey carried out by Pratham, a leading non-governmental organisation, in 26 districts across 24 states – one each in 22 states and two each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra – in the country, covering over 36,930 children in the age group of 4-8 years. In Punjab, the survey was conducted in Bathinda district where 1,468 kids and 1,207 households were covered.
In the district, 61.6% fouryear-old children go to private centres or schools for preschooling whereas 20.9% are enrolled in pre-primary classes of the government-run schools and 5.3% go to anganwadis. Of the remaining four-year-old kids, 10% are enrolled in schools and 2.7% are out of school – they never enrolled or have dropped out. In the 5-6 age group also, parents have a preference for private centres and schools which seem to be far ahead of government schools for pre-schooling. The gap in enrolment in private and government schools narrows in the 7-8 age-group.
The survey numbers do not give the complete picture, though. The state’s school education department, which started pre-primary classes in all 13,000 government primary schools two-and-a-half years ago, has enrolled 2.25 lakh children aged between 3 and 5 years so far. A special curriculum, early childhood pedagogy techniques and play-way methods have been adopted. “The aim is to effectively link early childhood education with rest of the education and provide them quality education,” said a department official, listing pre-schooling among the foremost priorities.
Punjab, according to the ASER, is among the three states (the other two being Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh) to get funding from the Centre for pre-primary education. Its focus is in line with the draft National Education Policy, which also lays emphasis on preprimary education as ‘foundational stage’ and aims to universalise it by 2025.
48% CLASS-1 CHILDREN CAN’T RECOGNISE 2-DIGIT NUMBERS
Almost half of children of Class 1 in government schools in Bathinda cannot do double-digit number recognition, according to the ASER findings. Of the surveyed kids, 20.4% are unable to recognise numbers between 1 and 9 and 27.6% can only recognise single-digit numbers. Similarly, 22% and 13% students of Classes 2 and 3, respectively, are not able to recognise two-digit numbers.
In comparison, schoolchildren from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, where the survey was conducted in Hisar and Kangra districts, have done marginally better. The survey also assessed skills of these young children by giving them cognitive, early language and numeracy tasks. As for reading ability, 25.5% of Class 1 in Bathinda cannot read letters, 41% can read letters but not words and 22.8% can read words. Only 11% children can read the class-appropriate text.