Transforming Indian Education – A Look at ASER 2024
Context:
Recently, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 was released. It gives a complete view of India’s upcoming education landscape, alongside highlighting areas that needs more focus to address systemic challenges.
Relevance:
GS-02 (Government policies and interventions)
Key highlights:
- Progress and Key Developments
- Challenges in the education sector in India
- Way forward
Progress and Key Developments
- Dropout rates are reduced from 13.1% (2018) to 7.9% (2024) for children between 15-16 years-old.
- Female enrollment in pre-primary education increased by 38.4%, indicating strides in gender equality.
- The report highlighted the improvement in reading abilities of children of Class-3, owing to the NIPUN Bharat Mission. The NIPUN Bharat Mission targets foundational skills by Class 3 by 2026-27.
- Targeted policies, such as EWS reservations and STEM-focused initiatives like GATI, expanded opportunities for marginalized groups. Female participation in STEM fields now exceeds 40%.
- Enrollment of SC/ST students in higher education surged by 44% between 2014 and 2023.
- Global Recognition: Indian universities improved their global rankings, with IISc Bengaluru securing a spot in the top 100 of the World University Rankings 2025. Also, institutions like Deakin University are opening their campuses in India.
- NCERT is developing new textbooks in 22 languages, enhancing accessibility for rural and non-English-speaking students.
Challenges in the education sector in India
- Distractions in young age: While smartphone access among 14-16-year-olds rose to 90%, only 57% use these devices for education.
- Insufficient teachers: India faces a shortfall of 10 lakh teachers, coupled with absenteeism and outdated pedagogy. Moreover, teachers are overburdened with nonacademic tasks, impacting classroom efficiency.
- Social and economic problems: Financial constraints, early marriages, and lack of infrastructure result in dropout rates remaining high, particularly for girls (8.1%).
- Irrelevant curriculum: The exam-centric system discourages creativity, leaving students underprepared for practical challenges. Economic Survey 2023-24 revealed only 51.25% of youth are employable.
Way forward:
- The government should allocate 6% of GDP to education as per NEP 2020 recommendations, ensuring better infrastructure, teacher training, and research funding.
- Introduce mandatory vocational training from Class 6 and foster collaborations with industry leaders for internships and practical exposure.
- Promote modular assessments and open-book exams to encourage analytical thinking. Implement experiential learning models to connect theory with real-world applications.
- Accelerate BharatNet to deliver high-speed internet to rural schools. Public-private partnerships can provide affordable digital devices for students.
- Increase scholarships, hostel facilities, and transportation services for girls. Special incentives should support rural and marginalised communities.
Related Posts
Understanding altruism
Posted on
