ASER 2023: ‘Teaching format changing to plug gaps in learning’

Neha Saini

Amritsar, January 18

Raising questions on the prevailing school education set-up, the Annual State of Education Report (ASER 2023) has released figures that surprisingly exhibit glaring gaps in learning in school education system. The annual survey this time focused on an older group of 14 to 18 years old children, specifically on their ability to apply basic reading and math skills to everyday situations, and their aspirations.

The survey mentions that 42.7 per cent of children in the age-group of 14 to 18 years in rural India cannot read sentences in English, while more than half of them struggle with simple division problems. About 25 per cent of this age-group still cannot read a Standard II level text fluently in their regional language. In Punjab, this percentage is better than the national average, i.e. 12.8 per cent. In basic Maths, 43.1 per cent students in Punjab reported low foundational mathematical skills, compared to the national average (56.7 per cent). The findings of the survey are not encouraging, especially when Punjab claims to be among top performers in school education – which include indicators like learning outcomes and access – in the Union Education Ministry’s Performing Grading Index (PGI) report 2021-22.

“The contents of the Annual Status of Education Report, 2023, are absolutely correct. Students in the 14-18 age category have difficulty in reading and writing basic English sentences. The fact that students, particularly those studying in rural schools, are unable to pronounce or read and write basic English sentences is because a majority of schools do not follow the guidelines of the International Phonetic Association. This is an organisation that promotes the scientific study of phonetics and its various practical applications. There are 26 alphabets and 44 sounds. However, teachers teach just the alphabets and leave out the sounds. Learning phonetics means learning how sounds are produced and also learning the relationship between the sounds. “I agree it is the fault of the teachers, who do not teach phonetics properly. This is indeed a sad state of affairs in elite English schools, not to talk of government schools,” said Upma Mahajan, Principal, Lawrence International School, Batala. Like her, many teachers believe that foundational skills like reading and arithmetic are significant for everyday activities like calculations and understanding instructions and the findings of the report are not surprising.

Anita Bhalla, Principal, Bhavans SL School and city coordinator for CBSE, agrees with the contents of the report, “Maths is a big issue in all Boards, with schools mostly focusing on completing the syllabus and not learning outcomes. Maths teachers too use external tools to calculate. In languages, keeping aside speaking skills, the reading skills are poor due to focus given on English language. So, vernacular languages have been pushed back. It is not their mother tongue, which is mostly a regional language.”

Upasana Mehra, Principal, Senior Study II, shared that language, especially regional and vernacular, has become a challenge for most schools. “Language, especially regional, has become adulterated with most words being replaced by English version in our speech.”

Megha Goyal, Head of the Department of English, Lawrence International School, Batala, shared that the report says a majority of students between 14 and 18 years are unable to grasp even the basics of the English language. “This usually is because students are taught grammar and vocabulary but lack practice when it comes to speaking or writing which plays with their confidence to speak the language in public. There are various studies that prove that the concept of grammar is so confusing that 90 per cent of the students fail to grasp its intricacies. Grammar is taught between 14 to 18 years and a majority of the students drop out of English classes in this phase and never come back to complete it.”

Ridhima Anand, Mathematics teacher, St Mary’s School, Gurdaspur, said, “In India, we have developed a rote system that unfortunately has been going on for generations. This system envisages learning through memorising and repetition and not by mind, which is wrong. It is like making them run around the field without letting them play in it. The better way is to get them involved and make the subject interesting.” According to her, the use of applied learning method must be used in teaching a subject like Maths. “Maths can be easily made attractive with the use of visual aids, yet not many schools have access to such aids ,” she said.

While filling these learning gaps seems an arduous task, Upsana Mehra, who has been propagating the changed CBSE framework of application-based learning, said that the change will happen for good. “Looking at the gaps in learning, the CBSE has now come up with changed framework and a lot of application-based learning is now being adopted in schools. Applied Maths, based on case studies, is being used as teaching methodology in schools. The style of teaching is being changed to more research-based or application-based. So, these changes are happening and will take a few years to bear results,” she said.

Glaring gaps in learning in edu system

The Annual State of Education Report (ASER 2023) has released figures that surprisingly exhibit glaring gaps in learning in the school education system.