Lok Sabha Question No. 397 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-05
Subject: ASER Report
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: CH. MALLA REDDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 397 TO BE ANSWERED ON 5.2.2018

## ASER Report

## 397. SHRI CH. MALLA REDDY:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the key findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER);
- (b) whether the Government has accepted the findings of the ASER Report;
- (c) if so, the details of action taken/being taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  is  considering  instituting  a  periodic  survey  on  the same pattern to reach a wider audience and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

- (a) to  (c).  Achievement  surveys  are  released  in  the  Annual  Status  of  Education Report  (ASER)  by  a  non-governmental  organization.  It  is  a  household  survey limited to rural areas of the country. During 2017, 28,323 students in the age group  of  14-18  years  from  23,863  households  in  26  rural  districts  across  24 states  were  assessed.  Some  of  the  salient  findings  of  the  ASER-2017  report include  inter-alia,  that,  Overall,  86%  of  youth  in  the  14-18  age  group  are  still within  the  formal  education  system,  either  in  school  or  in  college,  75%  of children  in  the  14  to  18  age  group  can  read  basic  text  fluently  in  their  own language  and  that  the  usage  of  mobile  phone  among  those  surveyed  rises significantly  with  age.  Further, 53% of all 14 year-olds in the sample can read English sentences. For 18 year-old youth, this figure is closer to 60%. Of those who can read English sentences, 79% can say the meaning of the sentence. Also, 76% of surveyed youth could count money correctly and 56% could add weights correctly in kilograms and for those with basic arithmetic skills this figure was close to 90% and 76%, respectively. However, the report points out that only 43% student are able to do a 3-digit by 1-digit division correctly.

The  Department  of  School  Education  &  Literacy,  Ministry  of  Human  Resource Development was not associated with this ASER 2017 survey.

- (d)    National  Achievement  Survey  (NAS)  was  conducted  on  13th  November,  2017 through which the learning levels of around 22 lakh students of Classes III, V and  VIII  from  1.10  lakh  schools  across  700  districts  in  all  36  States  and  UTs were assessed. It has now been decided to conduct NAS biennially. Students of Classes III  and  V  were  assessed  on  Reading  Comprehension,  Mathematics  and Environmental  Studies  and  Class  VIII  students  were  assessed  on  Language, Maths,  Science  and  Social  Science.  This  competency  based  assessment  was based on the Learning Outcomes developed by the NCERT. Along with the test items,  questionnaires  pertaining  to  students,  teachers  and  schools  were  also used. District report cards (provisional) for NAS 2017 have been released by this Department and are available on MHRD website. Further, it has been decided to conduct NAS for class X on 5 th  February, 2018.

Through NAS it is for the first time that the teachers have a tool to understand what exactly the child should be learning in various classes, how to teach this through activities  and  how  to  measure  and  ensure  that  children  have  reached the required level.

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