Students in the age group of 6 to 14 in Haryana’s government schools (rural areas) have higher learning gains than those studying in private schools in the last two years as they have improved in basic reading and arithmetic, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released by the Pratham Foundation said on Tuesday.
According to ASER, as many as 44% of children enrolled in class 3 in the state could at least read standard 2-level text and 51.5% can solve at least subtraction of class 2 level in 2024. The government schools have improved by 10.9% in reading against 10.8% in private and 7% in arithmetic gain against 7.4% in private schools. Haryana’s arithmetic levels in class 3 are higher than the national average by 15 points and higher than neighbouring states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
The NGO has surveyed 23,725 children in the age group 3-16 across 626 villages and 12,424 households in Haryana’s 21 districts.
The ASER report reveals that 53.9% of children enrolled in Class 5 in Haryana government schools could at least read a standard 2-level text in 2024 against 46.8% in 2022, an improvement of 7.1 percentage points. However, in private schools, 72.9% of children in 2024 could read at least class-2 level text as compared to 71.8% in 2022.
Moreover, 29.4% of Class 5 students in government schools and 56.9% in private schools can solve a three-digit by one-digit division problem in 2024 against their previous 27.6% and 60%, respectively, in 2022. According to the report, 95% of rural boys and girls in the 15-16 age group are enrolled in the school, 98.3% enrollment in the age group 6-14, 50.2% children aged 3 and 26% aged 4 are enrolled in anganwadis in rural Haryana. The report suggests that 24.2% of class 1 students were found to be underage (5 or less than 5).
{{/usCountry}}Moreover, 29.4% of Class 5 students in government schools and 56.9% in private schools can solve a three-digit by one-digit division problem in 2024 against their previous 27.6% and 60%, respectively, in 2022. According to the report, 95% of rural boys and girls in the 15-16 age group are enrolled in the school, 98.3% enrollment in the age group 6-14, 50.2% children aged 3 and 26% aged 4 are enrolled in anganwadis in rural Haryana. The report suggests that 24.2% of class 1 students were found to be underage (5 or less than 5).
{{/usCountry}}Enrolment in govt school reduced
The increase in government school enrolment seen two years ago seems to have again declined by 5.9%. As per ASER, 46% students were enrolled in the government schools in 2024 against 51.9% in 2022. However, private schools’ enrolment in the age 6-14 have increased by 5.3% in 2024 with 52.3% students registered in 2024 against 47% in 2022.
Around 88.2% of children aged in the 14-16 bracket in Haryana know how to use a smartphone. As many as 66.1% of children use the smartphone for education-related activities, 77.5% for social media-related searches, 68.2% know how to block /report profile, 66.6% children can make a profile private and 68.3% can change the password.
The report further depicts that 89% of children in the 14-16 age bracket can set an alarm in the smartphone, 90.6% can browse the information and 94.1% of them can find a video about the specific topic and of those who found the video, 96.4% could share it via WhatsApp or Telegram. As per survey, boys perform better digital tasks than girls in Haryana. As per the survey, 92.4% of children reported that their families have a smartphone in the state. However, 38.7% of children have their own smartphones.
The ASER reports reveal significant improvement in mid-day meal served with 95.5% children availing the food facilities in 2024 as compared to 87.5% in 2022, 74.6% girls’ toilet usable against 68.5% in 2022. Moreover, 13.6% of schools do not have libraries set up, 27.2% of schools with library facilities but no books being used by the children on the day of visit and 98.5% of schools have electricity connections.
Haryana government schools have improved in literacy and numeracy. In grade 3, literacy level improved from 21.2% in 2022 to 32.1% in 2024.In class 5, the literacy levels stood at 53.9% in 2024 against 46.8% in 2022. In grade 8, the government schools recorded 76.6% literacy level.
In grade 3, numeracy level has risen to 33.1% in 2024 from 26.1% in 2022. In class 5, it increased to 29.4% against 27.6% in 2022. In grade 8, Haryana’s government schools performed poorly as it’s numeracy level stood at 43.1% in 2024 as compared to 49.5% in 2022.