Annual Status of Education Report 2019- Details

An overview of Annual Status of Education Report 2019: Here is all you need to know

ASER 2019 is an important report to understand the condition of education in our country.

Who is it published by?

It is published by Pratham, which is an NGO.

This is the fourteenth edition of the report.

Who does it cover?

The study spanned across 26 districts in 24 states, covering a total of 1514 villages.

The ASER ‘Early Years’ covers children in the age group 4 to 8 years. The main focus is to understand the pre-schooling or schooling status of children.

Four broad domains have been taken into consideration. The selections of these domains were based on internationally important competencies.

• Cognitive development:  This is an important aspect that helps in the development of a child. It helps in problem-solving, memory, logical reasoning, and creative thinking skills. They are fundamental to any kind of learning in school or in life.

The report studies this by- sorting by colour, spatial awareness, seriation, pattern recognition, and puzzle.

• Early language:Language is important for communication, expression as well as developing literacy. Comprehension is essential to make meaning of any communication.

The report tries to study this by – picture description, comprehension (listening and reading ) and reading.

• Early numeracy: this helps the child in not only maths but life. Counting, measurement and sense of quantity are essential early numeracy skills.

The report studies this through- counting of objects and relative comparison of objects; 1-digit oral word addition and subtraction problems; and 1-digit and 2-digit number recognition, relative comparison, and numeric addition and subtraction tasks.

• Social and emotional development: In Today’s world, this is an important ability that helps the child understand their own emotions and those of others. It is an essential skill to help maintain relationships. The report studies this through- emotion identification, situation to emotion mapping, and situation reaction test.

Key findings of the Report

• It found that maximum children- around 90% are enrolled n some sort of educational institution for the age group 4-8.

• More children enrolled in preschool and school belong to the higher age bracket  (99.5% among 8 years old)

• More girls are enrolled in government institutions.

• More boys are enrolled in private institutions.

• The enrolment pattern is very different for the age groups. This is a worrisome pattern as it shows that many children are already in the first standard even before they are ready. This might lead to them performing poorly in academics. 21.6% of 5 years old, 46.4% of 6 years old are already in Class 1. The Right to Education Act, 2009 states that children should enter class 1 only when they are 6 years of age.

Read more: INTERPOL – What is Interpol and what it’s structure?

4 out of 10 children in class 1 are below 5 or above 6.

• From age 4 to 5, children were much able to perform the tasks in the above four domains.

• A discrepancy was also found wherein children of 5 years old were not able to do the tasks. Children coming from less advantaged homes were among them.

• Regional Variations are very common across different States as they all have different criteria.

• Government schools saw more young people than private schools in the same standard.

There is a strong relationship between the cognitive ability of the kid and the numeric and language skills.

According to the report, there needs to be a focus on Anganwadi centres and improving their conditions as a lot of children are enrolled here.  There should be a set norm for age at which children enter school as it has a huge bearing on the development of the child. It is important to focus on cognitive skills before introducing formal structures.  The ages 4-8 should be seen as a continuum and the learning be structured accordingly.

For more such informative articles stay tuned to OWN Guru.