Education For All in India: June 2022

Monday, June 13, 2022

The NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY (NFHS-5): 2019-21

 

Brief Analysis by Prof. Arun C Mehta

NATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH SURVEY (NFHS-5) 2019-21 INDIA MARCH 2022: International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ICF, 2021. National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), 2019-21: India. Mumbai: IIPS.

Different educational variables have found a place in NFHS in its different rounds. The educational level of the household population, school attendance, literacy status of the population, years of schooling, etc. are a few such variables. The following variables have got relevance to the education has however found placed in the latest NFHS-5: 2019-21 which was conducted in two phases reports of which are now available. The information is available both at the state and all-India levels and also separately in the rural and urban areas.

  • Percentage of Female population aged-6 years & above who ever attended school
  • Percentage of Children aged-5 years who attended pre-primary school (during the school year 2019-20)
  • Percentage of women who are literate
  • Percentage of Men who are literate
  • Percentage of Women with 10 or more years of schooling
  • Percentage of Men with 10 or more years of schooling

Of the above variables, the percentage of children aged-5 years who attended pre-primary school (during the school year 2019-20) is significant given NEP 2020 which recommended extension of school education to the pre-primary age group i.e. 3 to 5 years.

  • First NFHS: 1992-93
  • Second NFHS: 1998-99
  • Third NFHS: 2005-06
  • Fourth NFHS: 2015-16 &
  • Fifth NFHS: 2019-21

The recent all-India Report of NFHS-5: 2019-21 was released in March 2022, and the following variables having got relevance to education has found a place in the report which is presented both at the all-India and State levels. All the States and UTs of India have been divided into North, Central,  East, Northeast, West, and Southern regions and analysis is presented both at the All India and Region-specific. The same has also been presented separately for the rural as well as for the urban areas. Fact Sheets of India and States & UTs as well as District Fact Sheets and State Reports can be downloaded from the official website of NFHS which is being managed by the IIPS, Mumbai.

  • Educational Attainment
  • Pre-school Attendance
  • School Attendance
    • Gross Attendance Ratio
    • Net Attendance Ratio
  • Gender parity Index

In particular, the following tables present information on educational variables:

  • Table 2.22 Preschool attendance: Age 2 to 4years
  • Table 2.23 Preschool attendance by state/union territory
  • Table 2.24 Educational attainment of household population
  • Table 2.25 Educational attainment of household population by state/union territory
  • Table 2.26 School attendance by state/union territory
  • Table 2.27 School attendance ratios
  • Table 2.28 Reasons for children currently not attending school

Brief Analysis

The educational data covered in the NFHS-5 indicate that only 39.9 percent of males and 40.3 percent females of aged 2 to 4 years were attending pre-schools of which only 69 percent were found to have attended during the period 2019-21. Not much variation is observed between the rural (38.3 percent) and Urban (43.9 percent) areas as almost the same percentage were found to be attending pre-schooling during the same period. However, more girls of this age (71.3 percent) were found attending than their counterparts boys (66.6 percent). Further, it has been observed that the percentage of children 2 to 4 years was a bit higher in the rural areas (71.3 percent) compared to 65.6 percent in the urban areas. The same information for the children aged-5 years attending pre-schools was earlier separately released by the NFHS-5.

The NFHS-5 also disseminated 6-17 years population attending schools which reveals that 87.4 percent of the population of this age group were attending schools during 2019-20; however, the percentage was observed to be higher in the urban areas (90.4 percent) than the same in the rural areas (86.1 percent). Not much difference is observed between males (88.2 percent) and females (86.5 percent) attending school.

he Net Attendance Ratio in primary schools was reported to be 83 percent in the rural areas as compared to 83.87 percent in the urban areas and GPI is reported to be as high as 0.99; thus meaning that both boys and girls were found almost equally attending primary schools which is quite similar to NER reported from the administrative surveys. The Net Attendance Ratio in primary schools is reported to be 83.87 percent in the urban and 83 percent in the rural areas with a GPI of 0.99; thus indicating that both boys and girls were equally attending primary schools. Compared to primary schools, only 76 and 79.6 percent population of 6-17 years were found to be attending (NAR) middle/secondary and higher secondary schools respectively in the urban and rural areas thus indicating that a good percentage is still far out of this level of education.

Like the previous NFHS, NFHS-5: 2019-21 also collected information on the 6-17 years population not attending schools and reasons for not attending. Despite many flagships programs launched by the Government of India, still about 21.4 percent of 6-17 years not attending school because they are reported not interested in studies as compared to 3.9 percent because of the repetitive failures, 6.8 percent got married (males, 0.3 percent & females, 6.8 percent), 20.6 percent required to work outside for cash earning, 13.3 because of household work, 6.2 percent because of the school located far away, etc. all which indicate that school education in the Country despite mega programs is still facing challenges which are similar to the same in the 1990s when the country launched one of the mega programs of primary education, namely DPEP and subsequently Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and RMSA and now Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan program. We might have opened a good number of schools under different programs but 6.2 percent of 6-17 years just not attending because schools are located far from their household is a great cause of concern. Is it because of the merging and closing of schools initiated recently in the Country? What about RTE norms to ensure that schools are made available in the neighbourhood? Disheartening to observe that 6.2 percent of the total 6-17 years population do not attend schools as they feel that schools are located far away from their household which is also a question mark about the implementation of the Right to Education Act enacted long back in 2009 specifying that no students are detained in elementary classes and all relevant age group children are provided a school within the neighbourhood.

Download Full PDF, Analysis of NFHS-5 by Arun C Mehta

Friday, June 10, 2022

National Achievement Survey (NAS 21): Results Released (25th May 2022)

In response to demand of researchers, Ministry of Education recently announced that it will soon conduct second National Achievement Survey (NAS) which shall  cover both the Private as well as Government schools which is a step in the right direction. Education For All in India wholeheartedly welcomed the statement which would be conducted by the  National Council of Educational Research and Training. The last such survey was conducted  on 13th November 2017 for classes III, V and VIII and for Class X in 2018. 

The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education has released the report on National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021, held on 12.11.2021. Approx. 34 lakh students from government, government-aided and private schools participated in this survey. The report is available on: http://nas.gov.in

National, state and district report cards are made available for Class 3, 5, 8 and 10 in language, Social Science, science and mathematics which is not an easy task to analyse.

  • Report cards reveals that many states has lower average marks in 2021 than in 2017, true for all the subjects.
  • 1,18,274 schools, 5,26,824 teachers and 34,01,158 students participated in NAS 21 across grades 3, 5,8 and 10.
  • NAS was conducted on 12 November 2021 across the Country.
  • Out of scaled scores of 500, class 3 has an average score of 323 in language, 306 in mathematics and 307 in EVS
  • Out of scaled scores of 500, class 3 has an average score of 323 in language, 306 in mathematics and 307 in EVS
  • Out of scaled scores of 500, class 8 has an average score of 302 in language, 255 in mathematics, 250 in science and 255 in social science.
  • Out of scaled scores of 500, class 10 has an average score of 260 in MIL, 220 in mathematics, 206 in science, 231 in social science and 277 in English.
  • Many states have lower average scores than the overall average scores
  • 38 percent students faced difficulty in learning at home during COVID, 78 percent it was burdensome, lot of assignments.
  • 24 percent sample students didn’t have digital device at home, 80 percent found learning better in school with peers help.
  • Average achievement score in Class 3 in mathematics is 306. In Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, UP, UKD, the same is significantly below that of the overall achievement score.
  • Average achievement score in Class 5 in mathematics is 284. In Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, UP, UKD etc, the same is significantly below that of the overall achievement score. Against which, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, MP, Punjab, Rajasthan, WB etc have significantly above the overall achievement score.
  • Average achievement score in Class 8 in mathematics is 255. In Andhra, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, UP, UKD, the same is significantly below than the overall achievement score. Against which, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, MP, Punjab, Rajasthan etc have significantly above the overall achievement score.
  • Average achievement score in Class 8 in mathematics is 255. In Andhra, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala, UP, UKD, the same is significantly below than the overall achievement score. Against which, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, MP, Punjab, Rajasthan etc have scores significantly above the overall achievement score.
More about NAS...