Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)

In India, where school closures due to COVID 19 were the longest in the world, evidence of this disruption to children's schooling and learning is yet to be gauged on a national scale. With schools now open across the country, data on enrolment and learning levels is an important input for districts, states, and the country to understand where children are and the kind of support they need, in order to plan action accordingly. In the absence of this data, it is very easy to slip into old patterns without fully addressing the gaps worsened by the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns creating permanent and irreversible consequences with regards to children's learning.

ASER is facilitated by Pratham/ASER Centre and is carried out by local organizations and institutions in each district. 30 randomly sampled villages are visited by trained volunteers of the local organization in each district. 20 households are randomly selected in each village. All children in the age group 3-16 in that household are surveyed. The survey reaches more than 600,000 children between the ages of 3 and 16 each year. About 30,000 volunteers from more than 500 partner organizations participate in the data collection, visiting more than 17,000 villages in 600 + districts of the country.

ASER is the largest citizen-led survey in India and has been highlighting the problem of high enrolment but low learning levels since its inception in 2005. Even in 2018, well before the pandemic, ASER reported that children's foundational learning levels in India were much below expectation. It is also the only annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India today.

ASER data is always useful but this year, ASER 2022 data will be especially valuable as it will help in understanding the impact of COVID-19 and prolonged school closures on schooling and learning levels of children in India.

2022 will mark the 13th ASER report in the series that started in 2005.