Hyderabad: The enrollment in Early Child Education in rural India is rising even as reading and arithmetic skills of children have improved in government as well as private schools, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 has revealed.
The ASER 2024, a nationwide rural household survey, which analysed 649,491 children in 17,997 villages across 605 rural districts in India, was released by co-founders Dr Madhav Chavan and Farida Lambay on Tuesday. Facilitated by Pratham, the survey was conducted by a local organisation in each surveyed district.
Enrollment
As per the ASER 2024, major shifts are seen in levels and patterns of enrollment among children in the pre-primary age group. 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, the report said. Among 3-year-olds, enrollment in pre-primary institutions increased from 68.1% in 2018 to 75.8% in 2022 to 77.4% in 2024, it added.
Among states, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana have achieved near-universal enrollment for this age group. On the other hand, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh have the highest proportion of 3-year-olds not enrolled anywhere (over 50%).
Among 4-year-olds, the All-India figure for enrollment in pre-primary institutions increased from 76% in 2018 to 82% in 2022 to 83.3% in 2024. In 2024, enrollment rates in pre-primary for this age exceeded 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 62.2% in 2022 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.