The Times of India | Rohini Nilekani writes: Our children have told us a wonderful story

Aser 2024 shows govts succeeded in minimising Covid impact on learning gaps. Rural kids are doing better & govt schools are teaching better than low-fee private schools.

A moment comes, not too often, when a society can sense joyful satisfaction. Not elation but a quiet happiness. I believe we should savour such a moment now.

The recently released Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024, spearheaded for 20 years by Pratham, with the participation of tens of thousands of volunteers across more than 605 districts calls for celebration. After years of disappointment that the country’s children were not learning as well as they should despite serious efforts of sarkaar and samaaj, results show there’s a clear uptick in both language and arithmetic skills. This is especially clear in the lower grades up to Class 5. We’re nowhere near where we want to be, with 100% of children at grade level efficiency. But we seem to be at a tipping point, where reversal looks unlikely. Most children seem to have bridged the pandemic deficit, and states like UP have done particularly well.

A lot of credit must go to both Centre and state govts. Focus on foundational learning and numeracy (FLN) is yielding results — 80% of schools reported they had received both training and materials for basic learning. Interestingly, gains in competence were consistently higher in govt schools across the country, than in rural budget schools.

The focus on little ones is critical. Brain development science tells us more than a million new neural connections are formed every second in the first few years of life. Connections that form early provide either a weak or a strong foundation for connections that form later. Early experiences shape brain architecture, which then determines future learning, behaviour and health too. What happens to 0-to 8-year-olds matters greatly. The National Education Policy has set a goal of universal coverage for all 3- to 6-year-olds to be in high-quality learning environments by 2030. We’re well on the way. Aser tells us that of all rural children, 77.4% of 3-year-olds and 83.3% of 4-year-olds are enrolled in pre-school or Aanganwadis.


It is hard to attribute this shift to any one cause. But the pandemic created a nationwide jolt to the system. The school system had to go digital. Govt’s ‘Diksha’ platform swung into action. Teachers were trained overnight with new skills. Virtual classrooms and processes were set up. There was a country wide consensus that children were in danger of falling behind. Everything that could be done would be done to prevent this.

Suddenly, families became bigger stakeholders in the process. Especially young mothers, who’re themselves more educated than their mothers, with tremendous hopes pinned on their children. They taught themselves to teach. They learned to go online. They saw how play itself became an opportunity for exploration. How the home could be a laboratory for learning. Across the country, people shared notes about their frustrations and their discoveries. Not all the loss could be prevented. The inherent disadvantage of spending two years without formal teaching is showing up in middle school. The learning levels of children in grades 6,7 and 8 seem to have remained flat across the previous Aser reports. We will need to pay very special attention to these students to bring them up to speed. These are already difficult puberty years and children, if not sensitively engaged with, can fall prey to low self-esteem. There is much work ahead.