Enrolment in govt schools declines, but learning quality improves: Key findings from ASER 2024
government school enrolment but also highlights improvements in learning levels in such schools in younger children.
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It noted that for children aged 6-14, enrolment dropped from 72.9% in 2022 to 66.8% in 2024. Meanwhile, in terms of levels of learning, the report found that the proportion of Class 3 students in government schools able to read a Class 2-level text increased from 16.3% in 2022 to 23.4% in 2024. Arithmetic proficiency also improved, with 27.6% of Class 3 students able to solve a subtraction problem, up from 20.2% in 2022.
On the other hand, while overall enrolment in this age group remains high at 98.1%, the reduction in government school enrolment indicates a shift toward private institutions post-pandemic. During the Covid-19 crisis, economic pressures pushed many families to opt for government schools, temporarily boosting enrolment. However, the trend has now reverted to pre-pandemic levels, where government school enrolment had remained around 66-67%.
This decline in enrolment is coupled with steady improvements in the quality of learning, particularly in foundational literacy and numeracy, a key area of focus under the National Education Policy (NEP). The ASER 2024 findings show that while enrolment has shifted, learning outcomes have steadily improved, driven in large part by the NEP’s
