Data | Only 8% of children in rural areas studied online regularly in August

According to the latest report by ASER in rural Karnataka, the share of Class 5 students enrolled in government schools who could read Class 2-level texts came down from 47.6% in 2018 to 32.8% in 2020

Physical classes have been suspended in schools in India for over 1.5 years now. While some students were able to study online, learning remained inaccessible for most. Two surveys — School Children’s Online and Offline Learning (SCHOOL) and Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) — evaluated the impact of the pandemic on learning outcomes. In August 2021, only 8% of children in rural areas and 25% of children in urban areas studied online regularly. Even those who were online found it difficult to follow the curriculum and had connectivity issues. As a result, the % of children who could read and perform calculations declined from pre-pandemic levels. In March 2021, ASER conducted a study in 24 rural districts of Karnataka to estimate the learning loss and understand current status of learning. Nearly 18,000 children between the age group of 3 to 16 were assessed for their reading and arithmetic skills. The SCHOOL survey covered nearly 1,400 underprivileged children in August this year across 15 States and UTs. The survey focused on children in rural hamlets and urban 'bastis' who generally attend govt. schools. About 60% of the sample resided in rural areas and close to 60% belonged to Dalit and Adivasi communities.