The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 is a nationwide rural household survey that reached 649,491 children in 17,997 villages across 605 rural districts in India. Further, ASER surveyors visited 15,728 government schools with primary sections. 8,504 were primary schools and 7,224 were schools which also had upper primary or higher grades.

Key Findings for Pre-primary (age group 3-5 years)

1. Enrollment in pre-primary institutions

• Among children aged 3-5 years, enrollment in some type of pre-primary institution (Anganwadi centre, government pre-primary class, or private LKG/UKG) has improved steadily between 2018 and 2024.
• Among 3-year-olds, enrollment in pre-primary institutions increased from 68.1% in 2018 to 77.4% in 2024. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana have achieved near-universal enrollment for this age group.
• Among 4-year-olds, the all-India figure for enrollment in pre-primary institutions increased from 76% in 2018 to 83.3% in 2024. In 2024, enrollment rates in pre-primary for this age exceed 95% in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha.
• Among 5-year-olds, this figure also showed big increases, rising from 58.5% in 2018 to 71.4% in 2024. The states with enrollment exceeding 90% in pre-primary institutions for this age include Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Nagaland.

2. Type of pre-primary institution

• Anganwadi centres continue to be the biggest provider of services in pre-primary age group in India.
• Approximately one-third of all 5-year-olds attend a private school or pre-school in 2024. This figure was 37.3% in 2018, fell to 30.8% in 2022, and returned to 37.5% in 2024.

3. Age of entry to Standard (Std) I

• The proportion of children who are “underage” (age 5 or below) is decreasing over time. In 2018, this figure was 25.6%, in 2022 it stood at 22.7%, and in 2024, nationally the percentage of underage children in Std I was at its lowest ever at 16.7%. On average, this proportion has either declined or remained stable across all states in India.

Key Findings for Elementary (age group 6-14 years)

1. Enrollment

• Overall school enrollment rates among the 6-14 age group have exceeded 95% for close to 20 years. This proportion has stayed almost the same, from 98.4% in 2022 to 98.1% in 2024. Across all states, enrollment in this age group is above 95% in 2024.
• In 2018, 65.5% of children in the 6-14 age group in India were enrolled in government schools. By 2024, the all-India figure increased to 66.8%.

2. Reading

• Std III: The percentage of Std III children able to read Std II level text was 20.9% in 2018. This figure increased to 23.4% in 2024. The improvement in government schools is higher than the corresponding recovery for private schools. Following a decline in Std III reading levels in government schools in most states in 2022, all states have shown a recovery in 2024. States with more than a 10-percentage point increase in this proportion between 2022 and 2024 in government schools include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Odisha, and Maharashtra.
• Std V: Reading levels improved substantially among Std V children, especially for those who are enrolled in government schools. The proportion of Std V children in government schools who can read a Std II level text fell from 44.2% in 2018 to 38.5% in 2022 and then recovered to 44.8% in 2024. In 2024, Mizoram (64.9%) and Himachal Pradesh (64.8%) had the highest proportions of Std V children in government schools able to read Std II level text. States with over a 10-percentage point increase in this proportion in government schools include Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.
• Std VIII: Reading levels increased among children enrolled in Std VIII in government schools, which fell from 69% in 2018 to 66.2% in 2022 but then rose to 67.5% in 2024. Government schools in states such as Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Sikkim show notable improvements.

3. Arithmetic

• Std III: The all-India figure for children in Std III who are able to do a numerical subtraction problem was 28.2%. This figure has increased to 33.7% in 2024. Among government school students, this figure went from 20.9% in 2018 to 27.6% in 2024. For private school students, this number showed a smaller improvement since 2022. Government schools across most states have shown gains since 2022, with over 15-percentage point increases recorded in states like Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.
• Std V: At the all-India level, the proportion of children in Std V who can do a numerical division problem has also improved. This figure was 27.9% in 2018 and then rose to 30.7% in 2024. This change is also driven mainly by government schools. States with the showing most improvement (more than 10-percentage points) in government schools include Punjab and Uttarakhand.
• Std VIII: The performance of Std VIII students in basic arithmetic remains similar to earlier levels, going from 44.1% in 2018 to 45.8% in 2024.

Key Findings for Older children (age group 15-16 years)

1. Enrollment

• The proportion of 15-16-year-old children who are not enrolled in school dropped sharply from 13.1% in 2018 to 7.9% in 2024 at the all-India level.

2. Digital literacy

• Access to smartphones is close to universal among the 14-16 age group. Almost 90% of both girls and boys report having a smartphone at home. More than 80% report knowing how to use a smartphone.
• Of the children who could use a smartphone, 27% of 14-year-olds and 37.8% of 16-year-olds reported having their own phone.
• 82.2% of all children in the 14-16 age group reported knowing how to use a smartphone. Of these, 57% reported using it for an educational activity in the preceding week while 76% said that they had used it for social media during the same period. While the use of a smartphone for educational activities was similar among girls and boys, girls were less likely than boys to report using social media (78.8% of boys as compared to 73.4% of girls). Kerala stands out in this respect, with over 80% children who reported that they used the smartphone for educational activity and over 90% using it for social media.
• Among children who used social media, knowledge of basic ways to protect themselves online was relatively high. 62% knew how to block or report a profile, 55.2% knew how to make a profile private, and 57.7% knew how to change a password.

Key Findings of School Observations

1. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) activities

• Over 80% of schools had received a directive from the government to implement Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) activities with Std I-II/III, both in the previous as well as in the current academic year. A similar proportion had at least one teacher who had received in-person training on FLN.
• More than 75% schools had received Teaching Learning Material (TLM) and/or funds to make or purchase TLM for FLN activities.
• More than 75% schools reported implementing a school readiness program for students prior to entering Std I, in both the previous and the current academic year.
• More than 95% schools reported having distributed textbooks to all grades in the school, a substantial increase over 2022 levels.

2. Student and teacher attendance

• Student and teacher attendance in government primary schools show small but consistent improvements since 2018. Average student attendance increased from 72.4% in 2018 to 75.9% in 2024.
• Average teacher attendance increased from 85.1% in 2018 to 87.5% in 2024. This trend is largely driven by changes in teacher and student attendance in Uttar Pradesh.

3. Small schools and multigrade classrooms

• The proportion of government primary schools with less than 60 students enrolled shows a sharp increase, rising from 44% in 2022 to 52.1% in 2024. More than 80% primary schools in these states are small schools: Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, and Karnataka. Himachal Pradesh has the highest proportion of small Upper primary schools at 75%.
• Two-thirds of Std I and Std II classrooms in primary schools were multigrade, with students from more than one grade sitting together.

4. School facilities

• Nationally, all Right to Education-related indicators included in ASER have shown small improvements between 2018 and 2024 levels. For example, the fraction of schools with useable girls’ toilets increased from 66.4% in 2018 to 72% in 2024.
• The proportion of schools with drinking water available increased from 74.8% to 77.7%, and the proportion of schools with books other than textbooks being used by students increased from 36.9% to 51.3% over the same period.
• Sports-related indicators remain at close to the levels observed in 2018. For example, in 2024, 66.2% schools have a playground, similar to 66.5% in 2018.

References

Click to access ASER_2024_Final-Report_25_1_24.pdf

Leap in Rural School Enrollment

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