Karnataka witnesses decline in learning levels, spike in school enrollment: ASER 2022

The test is administered one on one to all children in the age group 5 to 16 in sampled households. Each child is marked at the highest level that she or he can reach comfortably. The proportion of children enrolled in class 8 in government or private schools who can at least read a class II level text also fell from 70.5% in 2018 to 59.9% in 2022.

On the other hand, the ASER arithmetic test assessment revealed that class 3 students who are able to do at least subtraction dropped from 26.4% in 2018 to 22.2% in 2022 and the proportion of children in class 5 who can do division has also fallen from 20.5% in 2018 to 13.3% in 2022.  The proportion of children in class 8 who can do division has also fallen from 39% in 2018 to 36% in 2022. In fact, the Karnataka government in May 2022 launched the learning recovery programme (Kalika Chetarike), which aims to bridge the learning gap of students due to the pandemic.

Although the school education department is yet to reveal how the learning recovery programme has yielded results, the government currently mulling to extend the programme to the next academic year as well.

Vishal R, commissioner of the department of public instruction said, “The learning level loss is not just seen in Karnataka, but also in other states as well. That is why Karnataka introduced the learning recovery programme. We are aware that the learning recovery levels have not significantly improved, which is why we are planning to extend the programme to next academic year in the form of Kalika Chetarike 2.0, to achieve the minimum semblance of normality in the learning curve of students.”

The study also revealed that the overall enrollment rate for the 6 to 14 age group has been above 95% for the past 15 years in the national average. In Karnataka, despite school closures during the pandemic, overall enrollment figures have increased from 99.3% in 2018 to 99.8% in 2022. The proportion of children in this age group who are not currently enrolled has dropped to 0.5%, the data revealed.

Meanwhile, in government schools, the period 2006 to 2014 saw a steady decrease in the proportion of children (age 6 to 14) enrolled in government schools. In 2014, this figure stood at 72.5% and there is a marginal variation over the following four years. However, the proportion of children (age 6 to 14) enrolled in government schools increased from 69.9% in 2018 to 72.6% in 2022.

Interestingly, the data shows that Karnataka sees an increase of enrollments in Anganwadis, much more than the national average.

Compared to the national average (78.3% in 2022), the proportion of 3-year-olds enrolled in some form of early childhood education stands at 94.3% in 2022 in Karnataka an increase of 2.1 percentage points over 2018 levels. In 2022, 88.3% of 3- year-olds were enrolled in anganwadi centres as compared to 82.6% in 2018. Among 4-year-olds, anganwadi enrollment has increased from 65.7% (2018) to 79.7% (2022). Even these percentages were comparatively high in Karnataka compared to National Average.

The ASER report showed that the proportion of government schools with less than 60 students enrolled has increased every year over the last decade. This figure was 17.8% in 2010, 22.3% in 2014, 26.3% in 2018, and stands at 29.9% in 2022.  However, average teacher attendance in school increased from 89.9% in 2018 to 92.6% in 2022. The average student attendance also increased from 84.1% to 87.5% in 2022, indicating that, Karnataka is way forward compared to the All India level, the report stated.

Small improvements are visible in all Right to Education-related indicators over 2018 levels. For example, the fraction of schools with useable girls’ toilets increased from 66.4% in 2018 to 67% in 2022. The proportion of schools with drinking water available decreased from 76.8% in 2018 to 67.8% in 2022, and the proportion of schools with books other than textbooks being used by students increased from 36.1% in 2018 to 51.9% in 2022.