2024 ASER Report Highlights Uneven Post-Pandemic Recovery in Rural Education
The report shows improvements in foundational skills driven by government initiatives but reveals persistent disparities across states and school types.
- The 2024 ASER report, based on a survey of nearly 650,000 children across rural India, shows learning outcomes recovering from pandemic-related losses but with significant variations across states.
- Government schools have shown faster improvements in foundational literacy and numeracy compared to private schools, attributed to initiatives like the NIPUN Bharat Mission launched in 2021.
- Arithmetic skills have recovered more robustly than reading skills, with notable gains in early grades, particularly in government schools, though private schools still outperform in absolute terms.
- Enrollment trends suggest a partial economic recovery in rural areas, with private school enrollment rising slightly while government school enrollment has declined since 2022.
- Despite progress, many states have yet to return to pre-pandemic learning levels, particularly in higher grades, highlighting ongoing challenges in addressing educational disparities.
Hindustan Times 
Free Press Journal 
