Learning right aser data on govt schools’ higher enrolment doesn’t at all mean india needs fewer private schools

Learning right aser data on govt schools’ higher enrolment doesn’t at all mean india needs fewer private schools

The 16th Annual Status of Education Report (Aser) shows government schools are finding favour again, retaking ground lost to affordable private schools over several years. This justifies their budgetary allocations and makes a case for increasing public spending on education. However, the story is not simple. Teachers cited financial distress and shut private schools as reasons for the sudden government school preference. So the latter still has a challenge when education normalises over time. Also, it’s simply not feasible for government schools to deliver all by themselves. India needs big investments in private schools at all levels, and state governments will be foolish not to recognise this. It’s good news that some government schools have upped quality. But minus a big network of private schools catering to all income classes, education delivery will remain patchy.

Aser also uncovers some grave learning problems. The shift to online learning was predicated on students having access to smartphones and teachers delivering requisite learning materials and activities. The number of students who failed to receive this critical access, in full or adequate measure, portends a generational deficit, one with huge socio-economic consequences. Only 27% of students had access to smartphones for their studies at all times and 47% sometimes. In Stds 1-3, the corresponding figures were just 19.9% and 40.8%. While 90% students received textbooks, at-home learning activities weren’t communicated to 40% of students in schools still in virtual mode.

Resultantly, the survey reveals two-thirds of teachers complaining that students were lagging behind the curriculum and 50% of them devoting their time to filling last year’s gaps. This critical task mustn’t be left to the earnestness of individual teachers. It needs a systemic corrective. Aser’s survey of 24 Karnataka districts this year merits the attention of all state governments: Std 3 government schoolchildren who can read Std 1 level textbook dropped steeply from 41% in 2018 to 24% and those in Std 3 recognising double-digit numbers from 78% to 60%.

Most states could be similarly placed. Yet there’s no urgency in commencing child vaccination, which can safeguard against more school closures. Unesco reveals 73 weeks of school closure in India against just 27 in China. States should treat the following as emergency measures: reforming government schools, encouraging many more private schools, and preventing learning deficits from compounding. Though least at risk from Covid, India’s children could end up bearing its brunt the longest.