Dimapur, Jan. 12 (EMN): ASER Centre (Annual Status of Education Report), an autonomous research and assessment unit of Pratham, has announced to release its 12th annual status report ‘ASER 2017: Beyond Basics’ on January 16 at 10:30 a.m. in India International Centre, New Delhi.
Every year since 2005, ASER has reported on children’s schooling status and their ability to do basic reading and arithmetic tasks. ASER has highlighted the fact that although almost all children are enrolled in school, many are not acquiring foundational skills like reading and basic arithmetic that can help them progress in school and life. Since 2006, ASER has focused on the age group from 5 to 16 years.
In 2017, ASER focused on older age group from 14 to 18 years and moved just beyond the elementary school age. Near-universal enrolment and automatic promotion through the elementary stage have resulted in more and more children successfully completing elementary schooling.
According to official figures from the District Information System for Education (DISE), enrolment in Standard VIII almost doubled in the decade between 2004-5 and 2014-15, from 11 million to almost 22 million. According to Census 2011, one out of every ten Indians is currently in the age bracket of 14-18. This amounts to more than 100 million or 10 crore youth in all.
The ASER 2017 report was an attempt to look ‘beyond basics’ and explore a wider set of domains beyond foundational reading and arithmetic. As before, ASER 2017 was a sample based household survey with tasks that are simple to administer and easy to understand. Like in previous years, ASER 2017 was conducted with the participation of local partner organisations. Since it was the first time that ASER focused on the older age group, the assessment was carried out in one or two districts in each state.
