In this article, we will discuss ASER: Recent Developments in Enrollment Scenario (2021). So, let’s get started.
- The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) Report 2021 for rural India notes that there has been a shift in enrolment from private to government schools between 2018 and 2021 across all grades and among both boys and girls.
- The increase is most striking among children enrolled in the lowest grades.
- For both girls and boys in classes I and II, enrolment in government schools increased by 9 percentage points and 14.1 percentage points respectively from 2018 to 2021.
- Overall, a total of 17 states saw an increase in enrolment in government schools.
- Uttar Pradesh and Kerala topped the chart and saw an increase of 13.2 and 11.9 percentage points respectively in enrolment in government schools in the given period.
- The shift back to government schools reverses a decade-long trend where private school enrolment kept growing at the expense of government schools
- Nagaland and Manipur saw a decrease of 11.4 and 13.4 percentage points in enrolment levels in government schools over the period under review.
- However, the shift has not been to private schools, but is reflected in much larger numbers of children who are currently not enrolled in these states—an increase from 1.1% to 15.5% in Manipur and 1.8% to 19.6% in Nagaland from 2018 to 2021.
- On average in 2021, the proportion of children aged 6-14 currently not enrolled in school has increased by 2.1 percentage points compared to the 2018 level, with states like Andhra Pradesh (7%), Manipur (15.5%), Nagaland (19.6%) and Telangana (11.8%) showing a high increment in their currently-not- enrolled levels compared to 2018.
