23 hours Ago By Manash Pratim Gohain
NEW DELHI: The ASER 2024 highlights notable progress in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) across India, with significant improvements in reading and arithmetic skills. However, state-wise disparities remain stark, underscoring the uneven impact of interventions. The report, covering nearly 6.
5 lakh children across 17,997 villages, revealed that in reading proficiency, the national average for children in standard III who can read a standard II level text has risen to 23.4%, the highest recorded in over a decade, up from 16.3% in 2022.
The proportion of standard V students achieving this benchmark has also increased to 44.8% from 38.5% in 2022, surpassing the pre-pandemic 2018 level of 44.
2%. Among states, Mizoram (64.9%) and Himachal Pradesh (64.
8%) recorded the highest reading proficiency for standard V students in govt schools. UP emerged as the most improved state, where standard III reading levels rose from 16.4% in 2022 to 27.
9% in 2024, marking a 69% increase in two years. Other notable gainers include Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Haryana, and Maharashtra. In contrast, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana saw declines in reading levels, particularly in standard VIII.
Arithmetic skills have also improved, with 33.7% of standard III students demonstrating subtraction proficiency, up from 25.9% in 2022 and 28.
2% in 2018. Among standard V students, 30.7% could solve a division problem, marking an increase from 25.
6% in 2022. The strongest arithmetic gains were observed in Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab. Uttar Pradesh recorded its highest arithmetic learning levels in 20 years, further strengthening its recovery trajectory.
Private schools, however, showed weaker improvements compared to govt schools, highlighting the effectiveness of public sector interventions such as National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat. Despite these improvements, the lowest-performing states in reading for standard V include Bihar (14.8%), Madhya Pradesh (16.
0%), Rajasthan (17.5%), Telangana (20.3%), and Punjab (14.
0%). In arithmetic, Bihar (8.1%), Madhya Pradesh (14.
4%), Rajasthan (14.3%), Telangana (8.2%), and Punjab (13.
4%) lag significantly behind the national average. The impact of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and NIPUN Bharat initiative is evident in the upward trend in FLN outcomes. ASER 2024 notes that 83% of govt schools received formal FLN implementation directives, 78% had at least one trained FLN teacher, and 75% had access to FLN-specific teaching-learning materials.
These efforts have contributed to improvements, particularly in govt schools, which have outperformed private institutions in learning recovery post-pandemic. However, challenges persist. While FLN-focused policies are translating into better learning outcomes, classroom pedagogy still requires further alignment with foundational skill-building.
Disparities between states remain a concern, with some regions witnessing regressions despite national-level gains. Overall, ASER 2024 underscores a positive trajectory in India's education sector, driven by policy reforms and grassroots initiatives..
