Primary level education degraded in Telangana

Hyderabad: Only 12 per cent of students in the primary level in government and private schools can read properly in the state, which is much lower than the national average of 20 per cent according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018. The learning abilities in state schools had seen a three-per cent increase in 2016 but fell in 2018, showing that the implementation of foundation skills courses was not consistent. 

Education secretary N. Mohammed said about the survey: “Teaching in the primary level is affected in government schools as the teachers are clocking in and going away. The quality of education is not stressed upon.”

He said only students from the extremely poor sections were going to government schools. “Those who can afford to pay are opting for private schools. Government schools have more than the sufficient number of teachers and they are trained regularly but the effect is not being seen at the ground level.”

The foundation skills which are being evaluated every year have shown a worrying trend. One out of every Class 8 student in rural India is not able to read Class 2 text, according to the survey

ASER officials in TS said that poor reading and mathematics skills have been found among both government and private schools in semi-urban and rural areas. At the age of five, one child out of 10 was out of preschool.

Five out of 10 children in this category opted for private schools and not government schools. In the private schools, it was found that 40 per cent of those who had studied in government anganwadis were in pre-primary class at the age of six as they could not read and write properly. 

ASER has found that there was a very high enrollment of children in private schools and a decrease in the levels of learning from 30.6 per cent in 2014 to 24.4 per cent in 2018. The reason for this decrease is that private schools do not have enough skilled teachers. Due to the pressure for admission, there are more than 40 children in one class. The report stated that while enrollment in schools had seen a 90 per cent rise, the quality in terms of learning had suffered. The focus has to be on implementation of foundation skills in Classes 1 and 2 and Classes 3 to 8. The teachers have to be trained and their knowledge regularly upgraded. 

In TS, the ratio is 52: 48 in terms of private and government and this has to be changed stressed the report.