3 min readMumbaiJan 19, 2023 09:10 AM IST
First published on: Jan 18, 2023 at 07:57 PM IST
Maharashtra has witnessed a steady decline in the reading and arithmetic skills of children, as per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 released today. Even as enrollments have seen an increase in government schools, there is marginal drop in enrollment of private schools. While schools having usable computers has seen a drop; there is a whooping jump in the number of households having mobile phones which are smartphones with internet facilities.
Only 26.6 per cent of surveyed children from class 3 can read class 2 level text in 2022. This was 42.1 per cent in 2018 and 40.6 per cent in 2017. Only 18.7 per cent of children from class 2 can do basic subtraction in the year 2022. This was 27.1 per cent in 2018. The condition is similar for higher classes surveyed in the report – class 5 and 8. Only 55.5 per cent of class 5 children can read class 2 level text. Whereas only 76.1 per cent class 8 children can read class 2 level text.
In case of arithmetic capacity too, the performance of surveyed children has shown a decline. Only 18.5 per cent children from class 3 can do simple subtraction which was 27.1 per cent in 2018. Classes 5 and 8 were assessed for being able to do division. Only 19.9 per cent of Class 5 were able to solve it, which is a considerable drop from 28.0 percent of children from class 5 in 2018. Whereas in class 8, a total of 34.4 per cent children could do division, a significant drop from 40.7 per cent in 2018.
The ASER survey in Maharashtra surveyed 33 districts, 983 villages and 19396 households and 823 schools. While enrollment in government schools in Maharashtra has seen a jump from 61.6 per cent in the year 2018 to 67.4 per cent in the year 2022; it has dropped in private schools to 32.1 per cent from 37.6 per cent in the year 2018.
Even as there is a new wave of digitalisation in school education, post pandemic; the ASER report shows a drop in the number of schools having computers whereas the percentage of schools where children are observed using computers is nominal. In the year 2022, 34.0 per cent of schools have computers which is a considerable drop from 45.5 per cent in the year 2018. But the percentage of students who are observed using computers remains the same at 19 per cent in both years.
However, children are seen having the most access to mobile phones as the number of households having mobile phones has witnessed an increase from only 67.5 per cent in the year 2010 to 95.1 per cent in the year 2022. Out of these 84.1 per cent households have smartphones. Whereas 88.1 per cent of those have an internet facility.
The timings for the teaching staff of primary classes will be 10.40 am to 4.40 pm. (Express Photo/ Representative Image) 
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