Private schools in India attracted a large chunk of students in the 6-14 age group, according to the Annual Status of Education Report 2012 (ASER) by Pratham. However, the quality of education is on the wane in both private and government schools, the report noted.
The survey, which covered 16,000 schools across the country, found private enrolments rose from 18.7 per cent in 2006 to 28.3 per cent in 2012.
According to ASER, there has been a 10 per cent increase in private school enrolments over the last three years. If the trend continues, the report forecasts, India could have half of its students attending private schools even in rural areas by 2018.
In 2012, more than 40 per cent of students in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Meghalaya were enrolled in private schools. The percentage was even higher in Kerala and Manipur, where 60 per cent were in private schools.
The report also found that in 2010, more than half of all students in Class V were able to read a standard II text book. However, this proportion fell to 48.2 per cent in 2011 and further to 46.8 per cent in 2012.
Compared to private school students, the decline in reading levels was more visible among those in government schools. The percentage of Class V students in government schools who could read a Class II level text fell from 50.7 per cent in 2010 to 41.7 per cent in 2012.
2012 was the year of mathematics in India. However, it was a bad year for basic arithmetic for students, the report noted. In 2010, seven out of 10 students enrolled in Class V were able to solve simple 2-digit subtraction problems with borrowing. This proportion declined to six out of 10 in 2011 and further to five out of 10 in 2012. Barring Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, every major state showed signs of a substantial drop in arithmetic learning levels.
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According to the report, irrespective of government or private schools, about a quarter of all students in the elementary grades (Class I-VIII) across rural India go to paid private tutors. In 2012, of all students - rural and urban - enrolled in Class I-VIII, about 45 per cent were going to private school and/or private tuition.
The report compared the basic math skills of Class V students enrolled in government schools across the country. It found that between 2011 and 2012, there was a 10 percentage point drop in students’ ability to do basic subtraction. The exceptions were Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala where there has been either improvement or no change since 2011.
According to Madhav Chavan, founder of Pratham, the decline in education standards could be linked to the Right to Education Act’s prescription to abandon examinations in primary schools. He said that fewer and fewer children in successive batches reaching Class III and Class V are learning basics of reading and maths.
“Unless someone can show that the children are learning something else better, this indicates an alarming degeneration. There has been a feeling that RTE may have led to relaxation of classroom teaching since all assessments and exams are scrapped and no child is to be kept back,” he said.