ASER 2024: More than 80% children under 5 are enrolled in pre-primary institutions in 2024

For the ASER 2024 report, a total of 649, 491 children in 17, 997 villages across 605 rural villages in India were surveyed.

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 by NGO Pratham Foundation was released in New Delhi on January 28, 2024. The intensive survey report was released by the co-founders of Pratham Dr. Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay.

The report also mentions that the proportion of ‘underage’ students i.e. age 5 or below, entering standard I is decreasing over time. (Sourced)

For the ASER 2024 report, a total of 649, 491 children in 17, 997 villages across 605 rural villages in India were surveyed. The survey was conducted for children from 3 age groups: Pre-Primary (age group 3-5), Elementary (age group 6-14) and Older children (age group 15-16).

Report findings:

For the age group 3-5, the report highlights that the enrollment of children in preschool is high and rising. In 2024, more than 80% of children in this age group are enrolled in some form of pre-primary institution.

The report also mentions that the proportion of ‘underage’ students i.e. age 5 or below, entering standard I is decreasing over time. On comparing the previous years' figures, it can be seen that the figure was 25.6% in 2018, 22.7% in 2022, and for 2024, the national percentage of underage students entering standard I in 16.7%, which is the lowest figure ever.

For the age group 6-14, the survey finds that the proportion of the number of children in this age group who are enrolled in school has exceeded 95% for close to 20 years. In 2024 it stands at 98.1%. For the enrollment in government schools, the figure stands at 66.8%, which is close to the pre-pandemic levels. However, during the pandemic government school enrollments had seen a spike with 72.9% enrollments recorded in 2022.

Concerning the older children belonging to the age group 15-16 years, the survey has mentioned that the proportion of older children not enrolled in school has been decreasing steadily over the years. The proportion of 15-16 year old children who are not enrolled in school stands at 7.9% in 2024. There was a decline from 13.1% in 2018 to 7.5% in 2022 as per the earlier figures.