Where do learning levels stand in 2024?

At the elementary level (age 6 to 14 years), covered under the Right to Education Act of 2005, both reading and arithmetic levels have improved for children in all grades in most states. In particular, children in Classes 1 to 3 show significant increases from the 2022 ASER report.

For children between 3 to 6 years, two key findings are worth highlighting: first, preschool coverage rose between 2018 and 2024. ASER data also show that by 2024, the proportion of rural children of age 3 who are enrolled in some kind of early childhood education program was 77.4%. This is truly a major achievement for a country as diverse as India.

With five years of the 2020 National Education Policy, what has changed for schools?

The NEP introduced structural changes – particularly by including the 3 to 6 age group in the larger picture. The policy underlines that the highest priority will be given to achieving universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN). Launched in 2021, the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat was for improving these skills. It aims for universal FLN at the end of Class 3 (age 8) by 2026-27.

The ASER survey found that at the all-India level, 83% of schools said they received directives from the government to implement FLN activities. Around 78% said that at least one teacher in the school had been trained on FLN, while 75% also received relevant learning material.

A directive means there is a goal, with resources being made available for it in a visible manner. If you visit a government rural school, you will see a lot more things than before, whether it is building blocks, books or other learning materials.

What is the need for focusing on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)?

The NEP states that Class 1 enrollment should happen at age six. This is because going to school too early can be counter-productive. A child has to be cognitively and socially ready to cope with what formal school brings, in terms of curricular expectations or classroom behaviours.

With a focus on ECCE, there is an acknowledgement that you prepare children not just to enter Class 1, but for the three years before that. If you get a child and her family ready for school, you get the school ready for the children and eventually get the early childhood structure in place.

A large share of that age group goes to Anganwadis (more than one-third of children aged between 3 and 5, according to the ASER report). Though early childhood education has not received priority at times, quite a few states are now doing specialised training with Anganwadi workers.

Anganwadis have a lot of tasks at hand, such as immunisation and nutrition. But rather than looking at these as competing claims, you could look at this as a package. Pratham’s experience tells us that Anganwadis provide not just tangible benefits, but also a more direct connection for parents. The distance between the parent and the Anganwadi worker is often not very vast, as it might be with the school teacher. And so, if certain states have very high Anganwadi enrollment, strengthening the early childhood component could be a good option.

However, it also depends on each state. In Himachal Pradesh and Punjab, there has been a shift towards pre-primary classes in schools. In Rajasthan, there has been an increase in 5-year-olds enrolling in both Anganwadis and private LKG/UKG classes.

What did the ASER 2024 survey find about older children (15-16 years)?

Keeping with recent trends, the percentage of children in this age group not enrolled in school has gone down (around 7% today).

This year’s survey also showed that in terms of digital access, more than 90% of rural adolescents have access to a smartphone. Children were also evaluated on their ability to do tasks such as searching for information online or setting an alarm. In terms of both accessibility and skills, there were some gender gaps. For instance, 80.1% of boys (ages 14 to 16) could browse for information, against 78.6% of girls. In some southern states, girls either outperformed boys or were at the same level as them.

What is the outlook for ECCE?

Any planning for achieving quality ECCE must start with a thorough and grounded understanding of current realities. ASER and the government’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) provide some data for this age group, but more comprehensive and continuous data collection efforts are needed.

Second, budget considerations are crucial. A key recommendation of NEP 2020 is to “recruit workers/teachers specially trained in the curriculum and pedagogy of ECCE”. Education departments need to work out a long-run commitment to budget allocations and processes for identifying, recruiting, training and sustaining dedicated teachers for the pre-primary grades.

Within the Anganwadi system, if the early childhood education component is to be given higher priority, the requirement for additional resources must be specified and projected.

Dr Rukmini Banerjee is CEO of Pratham. She spoke to Rishika Singh.