Karnataka tops in enrolment of five-year-olds

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), prepared by the NGO Pratham, the percentage of five -year-olds enrolled in schools in rural India increased from 54.6 per cent in 2009 to 62.8 in 2010. 

“The biggest increase was visible in Karnataka where the proportion of five-year-olds enrolled in schools increased from 17.1 per cent in 2009 to 67.6 in 2010,” noted ASER, which is considered to be the most authoritative annual report on the state of education  in the country.

There are several other states where school enrolment has increased “substantially” between 2009 and 2010. These include Punjab (68.3 to 79.6 per cent), Haryana (62.8 to 76.8 per cent), Rajasthan (69.9 to75.8 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (55.7 to 73.1 per cent) and Assam (49.1 to 59 per cent), the report said.

Conducted every year since 2005, ASER is the largest annual survey of children in rural India. In 2010, ASER reached 522 districts, over 14,000 villages, three lakh households and almost seven lakh children. 

ASER also noted rise in the pupils’ enrolment in private schools in rural India, saying the southern states show “substantial increases” over last year in this regard for the age group 6 to 14.

The report noted that enrolment in private schools in rural India increased from 21.8 per cent in 2009 to 24.3 per cent in 2010. This number has risen steadily since 2005 when the national average was 16.3 per cent.

“Between 2009 and 2010, the percentage of children (age 6-14) enrolled in private school has increased from 29.7 per cent to 36.1 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, from 19.7 per cent to 25.1 per cent in Tamil Nadu, from 16.8 per cent to 20 per cent in Karnataka and from 51.5 per cent to 54.2 per cent in Kerala,” it said. 

The survey also found that 96.5 per cent of children in the 6 to 14 age group in rural India are enrolled in schools in 2010. “While 71.1 per cent of these children are enrolled in government schools, 24.3 percent are enrolled in private school,” it noted.