ASER 2006: Quantum jump in MP learning levels in less than a year

Madhya Pradesh showed a major improvement in learning of basic skills at the primary education levels as per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2006. The number of children in Std. 1 & 2 who can read letters or more in Madhya Pradesh increased by over 50% in less than one year. ASER 2006 recorded that 89.2% of children in Madhya Pradesh can read letters or more as compared to 57.3% in 2005.

Classes 3 to 5 also saw a similar rise in education standards across Madhya Pradesh. While the percentage of Class 3-5 students who could successfully do a subtraction problem was 56.1% last year, this figure jumped to nearly 82% this year. Again, the numbers for reading achievement are similar.

This performance puts MP’s reading levels in the same league as states like Kerala and West Bengal .. This rise in reading levels is also reflected in the arithmetic achievement made by these children (see graph on the right).

School teachers in 45 districts of Madhya Pradesh carried out a “Learning to Read” programme in all schools with the help of Pratham. The 4-month campaign, from October 2005 to January 2006, was targeted at children in classes 3-5. The government school teachers for Std VI-VIII also made efforts to improve learning levels in their classes. Thereafter, during vacations, Pratham organized a volunteer based campaign from April to June 2006 which focused on Std 1-2

Ms. Nanda Gole, Pratham’s MP Programme Manager, in-charge of this campaign spoke about how it all started: “The then State Director of SSA Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Neelam Shami Rao, invited Pratham to work alongside teachers in the schools of MP to improve basic reading, writing, arithmetic and comprehension. These government school teachers worked hand-in-hand with Pratham volunteers who went from village to village assisting, motivating and helping with folded hands”.

This campaign also successfully showed that a properly designed intervention is capable of breaking the vicious circle of illiteracy. ASER 2006 records the trend that a higher percentage of children of mothers who did not attend school are illiterate. Interestingly, after the “Learning to Read” programme in Madhya Pradesh, even children of uneducated mothers did well. (See graph on the left). All over India , 25% children of mothers with no schooling cannot even simple read letters. However, in Madhya Pradesh only 9.4% children of unschooled mothers could not read letters.

ASER is a nationwide audit on the status of learning levels in India . This survey was facilitated by Pratham in participation with 430 other NGOs across India and involving over 20,000 volunteers.