What is ASER?

● ASER stands for Annual Status of Education Report.

● Purpose: The survey reports on the schooling status of children in the 5-16 age group and their ability to do basic reading and arithmetic tasks.

● Conducted by: NGO Pratham 

● Geographical Coverage of ASER: ASER is a rural survey. Urban areas are not covered.

● How is the survey conducted? Unlike most other large-scale learning assessments, ASER is a household-based rather than school-based survey.

ASER 2021:

● Similar to 2020, the 2021 survey was conducted via phone calls.

● The aim of the 2021 survey was to understand the transition when it comes to the education system of India as the COVID-19 scare comes down.

Key findings of ASER 2021:

● There has been an overall increase in the proportion of children enrolled in govt schools between 2018 and 2020 i.e from 64.3% to 65.8%. However, in the year 2021, the enrollment suddenly went up to 70.3%.

● There was a 40% increase in the number of school going children taking tuition during the closure of their schools amid the pandemic.