StatsGuru: The state of education in India

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The latest Annual Survey of Education Report, or ASER, provides some important revelations on the state of Indian education in rural areas. As Table 1 shows, recent years have shown a worrying decline - especially in major states such as Uttar Pradesh and those in the north - of the ability of students in government schools to read simple sentences. Table 2 confirms that this decline is similarly sharp - or sharper - when it comes to simple mathematics (in this example, long division).

Worryingly, as Table 3 reveals, while the differential between government and private schools in mathematics achievement has become suddenly sharp over the past few years, the decline in capability is noticeable in private schools, too. Table 4 shows how this problem persists, and is thus urgent - if a cohort of schoolchildren does not learn these basic skills at the time it is supposed to, then it fails to pick these up later, too, no matter how long it stays in school.

Finally, Table 5 reveals one consequence of government schools failing to do their bit - the proportion of students in private schools is becoming increasingly bigger in several states.