In another revelation of the report, a more than 10 percentage point drop was witnessed in government school children’s ability to do standard arithmetic over the last year. The exceptions being Bihar, Assam and Tamil Nadu where the drop was less and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala where there has been an improvement or no change since 2011.
While releasing the report, Union human resource development minister M.M. Pallam Raju stated that the expressed his dismay at the findings and stated that team work was required to improve the educational situation. He rejected suggestions that the negative outcomes in the survey was due to the implementation of CCE.
While trying to downplay the survey, Mr Raju stated that “the ministry also has a similar survey conducted at government level. But we should work together to get results in the educational sector.”
ASER is the largest annual household survey of children in rural India that focuses on the status of schooling and basic learning. Aser 2012 reached 567 districts, more than 16000 villages, nearly 3.3 lakh households and about 16 lakh children.