After the latest edition of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) revealed poor reading and arithmetic skills among high school students in rural areas, the state government has directed its 'kendra pramukhs' (centre incharge) to carry out surprise visits at schools to evaluate learning levels of students.
A circular issued on Wednesday by the school education department underscored the need to improve the supervisory mechanism for schools in view of the ASER 2023 report. The findings are based on a pan-India survey of the 14-18 year age group in 28 rural districts, including Nanded district from Maharashtra. The state has asked education authorities to carry out regular assessments of students and train teachers if their pupils were not up to the mark.
ASER report findings
The ASER report, published by Pratham Education Foundation last month, found that 26.4% of the surveyed students can't fluently read class 2-level text in their mother tongue. Similarly, just a little over half (57%) can read sentences in English. Only 43.3% were able to solve a three-digit by one-digit division problem correctly, a skill they were supposed to acquire by classes 3 and 4.
While the reading skill of high school students in Nanded in their mother tongue is slightly better - 22.7% couldn't read - than the national average, fewer pupils (45.7%) could read English text. They fare even worse at Maths, with almost two-thirds (65.6%) of them unable to solve basic arithmetic problems, revealed the ASER report.
Government not too happy with findings
The government has said that these findings are concerning and disappointing. “Even though the survey is limited to one district in Maharashtra and the evaluation is based on a select few parameters, it very much depicts the situation in the entire rural part of the state,” reads the GR. The teachers have welcomed the intervention by the government. “The supervisory mechanism in the state has been dormant for the last 15-20 years, thanks to vacancies in administrative posts and additional workload. 'Kendra pramukhs' are expected to have annual assessment of schools, but they only visit us when they have some administrative work,” said Mahendra Ganpule, spokesperson for the Maharashtra School Principals Association.
Survey stats
26.4%
Students can't fluently read class 2-level text in mother tongue
57%
Can read sentences in English
43.3%
Able to solve three-digit by one-digit division problem correctly
