Govt. Schoolchildren Lead Recovery in Basic Skills; Private Ones Lag/सरकारी स्कूल के छात्रों ने बुनियादी कौशल में सुधार किया; निजी स्कूल पीछे रह गए

Why in news ?  The latest data for 2024, published in the Annual Status of Education Report (Rural), broadly indicates that rural schoolchildren have largely recovered from the learning loss experienced .

Uneven Recovery Across States:

The closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the learning abilities of rural schoolchildren, particularly in arithmetic and regional language reading. The Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2024 highlights that while rural schoolchildren have largely recovered, the progress is uneven across schools and states.

Arithmetic Abilities: Significant Improvement:

Rural schoolchildren in both government and private schools displayed marked improvement in arithmetic skills, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

• Government Schools:
  The share of Class 5 government schoolchildren who could divide three-digit numbers increased from 21.6% in 2022 to 26.5% in 2024, a 4.9 percentage point recovery, exceeding the 22.7% level in 2018.
• Private Schools:
  Similarly, private schools saw improvement, with the share increasing from 38.7% in 2022 to 41.8% in 2024, a 3.1-point recovery, surpassing the 39.8% in 2018.
  Despite the improvement, government school students showed a stronger recovery than private school counterparts.

Reading Abilities: Uneven Progress:

Recovery in reading skills was less pronounced compared to arithmetic.

• Government Schools:
  The share of Class 5 government schoolchildren who could read a Class 2-level paragraph in their regional language increased from 38.5% in 2022 to 44.8% in 2024, a 6.3-point recovery, reaching pre-pandemic levels of 44.2% in 2018.
• Private Schools:
  Private schoolchildren made limited progress, improving from 56.8% in 2022 to 59.3% in 2024, a 2.5-point recovery, still below the 65.1% level in 2018.

State-Level Trends: Varied Patterns:

Not all states conformed to the national recovery trends, showcasing significant regional differences.

Reading Abilities (Table 3)

• National Trend Followers:
  States such as Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Tamil Nadu showed recovery in reading abilities.
• No Recovery:
  • Andhra Pradesh, Kerala: Government schoolchildren did not recover.
  • Bihar: Private schoolchildren failed to recover.
  • Chhattisgarh: Neither government nor private school students showed recovery.

Arithmetic Abilities (Table 4)

• National Trend Followers:
  States such as Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh saw recovery in arithmetic skills.
• No Recovery or Worsening:
  • Kerala: The ability to divide three-digit numbers worsened in both government and private schools in 2024, failing to recover from pandemic lows.

Conclusion:

While government schools have made notable strides in post-pandemic learning recovery, private schools lag in key areas, especially reading abilities. The uneven state-level recovery underscores the need for targeted interventions to address disparities and ensure uniform progress across schools and regions.

सरकारी स्कूल के छात्रों ने बुनियादी कौशल में सुधार किया; निजी स्कूल पीछे रह गए

चर्चा में क्यों ? वार्षिक शिक्षा स्थिति रिपोर्ट (ग्रामीण) में प्रकाशित 2024 के नवीनतम आंकड़ों से मोटे तौर पर संकेत मिलता है कि ग्रामीण स्कूली बच्चे सीखने की हानि से काफी हद तक उबर चुके हैं.