Arunachal records over 95 per cent school enrollments in past 15 years

Arunachal Pradesh recorded over 95 per cent enrollment of children in schools in the past 15 years, in the age group of 6-14 years, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER). 

Despite the closure of schools during the Covid pandemic, the enrolment in the northeastern state increased from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022, the report which was released on Wednesday, said. The report revealed that almost all (98.4%) students in the age bracket of 6-14 years are now enrolled in schools in the country. The survey sheds light on learning outcomes in schools and is led by the Pratham Foundation. 

It was last conducted at this scale in 2018, so this marks the return of the survey after four years. In ASER 2022, around seven lakh candidates from 19,060 schools in 616 districts of the country were surveyed to calculate the learning outcomes post-pandemic on school children. 

In Arunachal Pradesh, the survey covered a total of 376 villages, 5,320 households and 9,148 children in the age group 3 to 16 in 13 districts. ASER is the oldest survey of its kind in the country and is well regarded for the range of insights it provides on levels of foundational learning at the elementary level. It gives direction to boost education standards, and the eco-system involving government, corporates, civil society and NGOs. 

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The report unveiled high enrolment of children in schools, a good performance indicator for government programmes like Nipun Bharat Mission. Rise in the number of girl child in schools also gave positive indication of synergies and effectiveness of the government’s Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiatives. The survey recorded the schooling status of children in the age group 3-16 and assessed children aged 5-16 in basic reading and arithmetic. 

Children’s English ability was also tested. The ASER-2022 basically focused on the foundational skills of children in the elementary school-going age group, which was done annually during 2005 to 2014 and in 2016 and 2018 as tools, sampling strategies and survey methods are comparable over time. In Arunachal Pradesh, the percentage of children in age group of 6-14 enrolled in government schools stands at 62.2 per cent in 2022 as compared to 60.1 per cent in 2018. 

In 2006, the all-India figure of the percentage of girls age 11-14 who were out of school stood at 10.3 per cent, falling over the following decade to 4.1 per cent in 2018. This proportion has continued to drop. In 2022, the India figure for 11-14-year-old girls not enrolled in school stands at 2%. In 2006, 8.7 per cent of the girls in age group of 11-14 were not enrolled in school in Arunachal Pradesh, which reduced steadily over the years, the report revealed. 

In 2008, more than 10 per cent of the girls in the 15-16 age group was not enrolled in school in the state. This reduced to 8.6 per cent in 2018 and reduced further to 6.4% in 2022. In Arunachal Pradesh, the proportion of 3-year-olds enrolled in some form of early childhood education stands at 64.4 per cent in 2022, an increase of 4.2 per cent over 2018 levels. 

There is a substantial shift in enrolment patterns of young children in the age group 3-5 years. In the state, 73.3 per cent of children enrolled in class 8 in government or private schools could read at least basic text in 2022 as compared to 70.1 per cent in 2018. As many as 33.5 per cent of the children in class (this includes children in both govt and private schools) were able to at least do subtraction in 2018. This figure has gone up to 35.8 per cent in 2022. The report further revealed that the proportion of children in class V in Arunachal Pradesh who can do division in government or private schools has reduced from 27.1 in 2018 to 22.9 per cent in 2022. 

While the proportion of children in class VIII from both Govt and private schools who can do division has decreased from 49.3 per cent in 2018 to 45.9 in 2022. In Arunachal Pradesh, children’s ability to read simple English sentences has increased from 33.2 per cent in 2016 to 47.8. In 2022, a slight improvement is visible for children in class VIII (from 75.9 per cent in 2016 to 76.0 in 2022). The proportion of government schools with less than 60 students enrolled has increased every year over the last decade including, 7.1 per cent in 2010, 15.2% in 2014, 35.5% in 2018, and increased to 40.9% in 2022 in upper primary school. 

In Arunachal Pradesh, average teacher attendance increased slightly, from 72.7 per cent in 2018 to 75.4 in 2022. However, average student attendance decreased from 78.3 per cent in 2018 to 75.9 in 2022 in upper primary schools. 

About 39 per cent of all primary schools in Arunachal Pradesh have received a directive to implement Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) activities with their students and about 61 per cent proportion had at least one teacher who had received training on FLN, the report revealed.