Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar, Jan 28 : In a worrisome development, only 21 percent of fifth standard students in rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir government schools can read text level of second class.
On the contrary, more than 60 percent of 5th standard students studying in private schools of Jammu and Kashmir can read text level of second class.
The latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), survey while assessing the learning ‘recovery’ since COVID in reading and arithmetic has revealed that “In government schools of Jammu and Kashmir, 18.1 percent of 5th standard students were able to read text of 2nd class level in 2022. However, in the year 2024, only 21.8 percent 5th standard students of government schools were able to read the text of 2nd class.”
According to the news agency, the report states that there was an improvement of 3.7 percent in reading from 2022-2024 in government schools.
The study further states that in private schools of Jammu and Kashmir, at least 54.9 percent students of 5th standard were able to read the text of 2nd class in 2022 and in 2024, at least 60.3 percent of students were able to read the text of 2nd class.
It said that there was an improvement of 5.4 percent in the 5th standard with regard to reading of text of 2nd class.
In the meantime, the report while highlighting the reading levels of 3rd standard students said that India has shown improvement in reading levels, but Jammu and Kashmir remains relatively low
“While learning levels across India are showing significant improvement, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir presents a contrasting trend. The region has experienced a learning loss of 2.3 percentage points in reading and 2.1 percentage points in Arithmetic,” it reads.
The sampling of the survey is based on selection of 30 random villages in each district, 20 households in each village. It also surveyed all children of age 3-16 in household and assessed all children of age 5-16 in household. The sampling method has remained consistent over time
