-Reshma Ravishanker

At least 42.6% students studying in class I in Karnataka are unable to recognize numbers, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released by ASER Centre, the research and assessment arm of Pratham, an organization that conducts the survey.

The report was released by the ASER Centre in Delhi on September 6. The surveyors visited households in 24 districts of Karnataka, collected information on 18,385 children admitted into private and government schools, studied their enrollment patterns and assessed their basic reading and arithmetic skills. This ASER exercise was able to reach children within the period that can be considered the 2020-21 ‘school year’.

The report also found that just 46% of students in class V could read a class II textbook in 2018. The numbers fell to a mere 34% in 2020. The survey has indicated that the performance is poor among government students where just 33% students could read a class 2 textbook. This data was gathered by visiting households and gathering data for the academic year 2020-21. Among the class III students surveyed, just 10% could read the previous year’s textbook.

As students have been away from schools, taking only online classes for nearly 16 months now, learning loss is evident across age groups. In 2018, it was found that 70% of students in class VIII could read a class II textbook without challenges. However, this number fell to 66% in 2020.

At Least 42% of students in class I tested for their arithmetic skills could not recognize numbers from one to nine. However, this number was far lower in 2018 when just 30% of students were unable to read numbers. Among the class III students, just 17.3% students could do basic subtraction when surveyed now while in 2018, the numbers were better at 26.3%. Only 38.9% class VIII students could solve division problems given to them. 

Also read: The economic impact of learning losses during pandemic