7.8% children in govt schools go for paid tuition in state: Report

At least 7.8 per cent of students enrolled in government schools take paid tuition in the state, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022 of Pratham Foundation.

However, this percentage is 13.6 among those going to private schools.

According to the survey, which covered Classes 1-8, the highest number of children opting paid tuition were from Class 4 in government schools with 9.2 per cent and Class 3 in private schools with 16 per cent.

Opting for private tutorials increased in the post-Covid times because of the learning gap.

However, when compared with the national average, those taking paid tuition decreased in Karnataka. At the national level, it increased from 26.4 per cent in 2018 to 30.5 per cent in 2022. In Karnataka, it decreased from 11.3 per cent to 9.2 per cent.

During the survey, 812 schools were visited across the state, mostly in the rural areas. ASER resumed its nationwide survey after a gap of four years, reaching 19,060 villages across 616 districts. As many as 3,74,544 households and 6,99,597 children in the age group 3-16 were surveyed.

Compared to 2016, the ability to read English sentences by class 5 children has drastically decreased. During 2016, 15.8 per cent of children studying in government schools, were able to read an English sentence against 54.4 per cent among children studying in private schools. This has dipped to 14.2 per cent and 40.4 per cent, respectively.

Apparently, 14.8 per cent of Class 3 children cannot even read capital letters in English. This percentage is 47.1 in Class 1, 25.4 per cent in Class 2 and 11.2 per cent in Class 4.