The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) prepared by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Pratham has suggested that Karnataka’s primary education system in rural areas has deteriorated in the wake of the pandemic and lack of physical classes. A survey covering 18,385 children aged between 5 and 16 years from 24 districts across 670 villages showed that there has been a dip in learning levels of children owing to lack of regular classes. Compared to 2018, when 19.2% of Class 3 students could read Class 2 level text, in 2020, only 9.8% of Class 3 students could read Class 2 level text. The ASER study found that there was not much difference between government school and private schools students with only 0.1% students in private schools doing better than their counterparts in government schools.
Similarly, an ASER study in 2018 had found that 46% of Class 5 students could read Class 3 level text, but the number dropped to 33.6% in 2020. The drop in learning levels was also observed in children’s capability to solve arithmetic problems. While in 2018, 34.1% of Class 5 students could do subtraction, the number dropped to 32.1% in 2020. Similarly, when 20.5% of Class 5 students could do division in 2018, the number dropped to 12.1% in 2020.
Pratham said that this drop in learning levels are a direct result of the pandemic and pause in face-to-face learning. “Global estimates suggest that children’s foundational skills will suffer due to prolonged school closures and inequitable access to different forms of technology-based educational platforms. This lack of foundational skills, the building blocks for further learning, will impact children's ability to engage with school curricula in higher grades,” the NGO said. The full study can be found here.
Regular schools in Karnataka were closed from March 2020 with the onset of the pandemic. Schools have opened for classes 6-8 from Monday while students in senior grades have seen regular classes resume since the last week of August. Regular classes for primary school students are set to resume for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, in the coming days.