The just released ninth Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) on Indian rural schools, conducted by the NGO Pratham Education Foundation, reconfirms the familiar facts that standards of education in rural India have declined almost every year since 2009 despite huge government investment. It also offers the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of the Congress and its allies a yardstick to assess its successes and failures in the education system during its rule at the federal level. And a quick check reveals that learning levels have continued to fall despite their achievement in getting more students to school. Getting children to school is one area where UPA has delivered. The Congress-led coalition has plowed billions of dollars into education, including building schools and encouraging children to enroll, particularly in impoverished rural areas. School enrollment has improved impressively with enrollment over 96 percent for children in the age group 6-14 in 2013, and in fact consistently in the range 95-96 percent for the last five years. The Right to Education Act (RTE) has emphasized the required standards at schools. And the survey found that in this regard the UPA has performed with passing grades. The UPA has also managed to put together school infrastructure that is as much the right of schoolchildren as quality textbooks and methods of teaching. Most schools now offer a playground and library facilities, are protected by a boundary wall, provide drinking water, have a useable toilet, and serve midday meals, all of which is progress on many RTE-related norms. But teaching and learning are key areas where the government seems to keep failing. Though the pupil-teacher ratio has improved, the quality of teaching has clearly not been a priority area. The survey showed 52.8 percent of children in standard five (children aged about 10) across government and private schools were able to read a text from standard two (children aged about six) in 2009. This fell to 47 percent in 2013. In math, 33.2 percent of children in standard three in government schools (children aged about eight) were able to solve a simple two-digit subtraction problem in 2010. This fell to 18.9 percent in 2013. The drop was smaller in private schools, with 47.8 percent of children able to solve the same problem in 2010, compared to 44.6 percent in 2013. The NGO said that although the latest 2013 figures were little changed from 2012, the drop in standards over the longer period was a cause for concern. As the guarantee of education is meaningless without satisfactory learning, there are clearly serious implications for India's growth if basic learning outcomes do not improve soon. The ASER also states that the unwillingness to admit that there is a problem is not helpful. The problem will not go away. It will only get worse. The survey, over the last two years, has also pointed fingers at how the RTE Act may have played a role in the slide in learning levels. Teachers are overburdened by the RTE that requires them to complete the syllabus leaving little focus on learning levels. The continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) format that has come in with RTE, along with the clause for no detention of children up to the VIII, seems to be complicating things further. Many have raised questions about the efficacy of these new systems. The Central Advisory Board of Education has set up a committee to look into CCE and no-detention and their impact on learning levels. Though the survey has indicated that much needs to be set right in Indian schools, it has also shown a way forward — the need to assess learning outcomes that the government should acknowledge and look into in order to correct its course.
