Skip to main content

Wither Gunotsav?: Gujarat children's math level worse than most states, including UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Odisha

Data provided by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2016 not only suggest that girl child education remains a major hurdle in rural Gujarat (click HERE), widely regarded by Government of India as a “model” state for other states to follow. Gujarat is found to be behind a large number of states even in learning levels at the primary level.
ASER has released the data at a time when Gujarat government is holding its high-profile annual Gunotsav festival, sending out all senior officials, including IAS and IPS bureaucrats, to remotest parts of the state to "improve" the quality of education in the states. The data suggest, the yearly exercise, begun by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Gujarat's chief minister, does not appear to have had any major impact vis-a-vis other states.
Thus, the data show that just 23% of Gujarat’s standard 3 children can read standard 2 level text, which is worse than 10 other major states – Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
What is worse, the data show, just about 19.9 per cent of standard 3 children can do subtraction, which is lower than all 20 major states except one – Madhya Pradesh (13.8%). So-called backward states, known to perform worse than Gujarat in economic indicators, clearly outperform Gujarat – in Odisha 33.9% can do subtraction, in Bihar 27.1%, in Assam 26.5%, in Uttar Pradesh 23.2%, in Rajasthan 21.5%, in Jharkhand 20.4% and in Chhattisgarh 20%.
The trend remains the same for standards 5 and 8. In Gujarat, 53.5% children of standard 5 can read standard 2 text, which is worse than as many as nine states. As for the percentage of standard 5 children who can do division, it is found to be 16.1, which is worse than all 20 states, except one, Assam (13.6%).
Similarly, while 76.6% of standard 8 children in Gujarat are found to be able to read standard 2 text, this is worse than seven other states – Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Further, just about 34.8% of standard 8 children, suggest data, can do division, which is worse than all states except five – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam and Chhattisgarh.
The report, ironically, notes that Gujarat is one of the two states which showed a “significant increases in government school enrollment relative to 2014 levels.” Thus, in Kerala, the proportion of children (age 11-14) enrolled in government school increased from 40.6% in 2014 to 49.9% in 2016”, while in Gujarat, “this proportion increased from 79.2% in 2014 to 86% in 2016.”
ASER notes, a certain improvement was also noticed in the proportion of children in standard 5 who could read a standard 2 level text -- by more than 5 percentage points from 2014 to 2016 in four states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tripura, Nagaland and Rajasthan. However, it adds, “This improvement is driven by gains in learning levels in government schools in these states.”
Trend in Gujarat's primary standards overtime in arithmetic 
Carried out with the support of private corporate houses and NGOs – in Gujarat, the support came from the Coastal Gujarat Power Limited, better known as Tata Power, which has put up the 4000 MW ultra-mega power plant in Mundra, Kutch – the field survey across the country was done by volunteers, 63% of whom were students. In Gujarat, according to ASER's own admission, “90% of volunteers were students.”

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Despite Hindutva hold claim, 18% Hindus in US don't want to be identified with Hinduism!

Scanning through news items on the Google News app on my mobile — which is what I do almost every morning — I came across a story published on India.com, which I found somewhat misleading. The headline said, "Muslim population drops significantly in THIS country as over 25% Muslims leave Islam due to…, the country is…"

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

Beyond Indus water treaty suspension: A 'nationalist' push despite harsh climate realities

The suspension of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) appears to have pushed the middle classes, at least in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, further towards what the powers-that-be would consider—a "positive" direction. As usual, during my morning walk, I tried talking with a neighbour about what impact it would have. Ignoring what is widely considered a "security lapse," this person, who had just returned after buying milk, compared the Modi move with Trump.

Adani Group a key player in Indo-Israel defence cooperation: Tel Aviv daily

Said to be one of the most influential Israeli dailies, "Haaretz" (literally: News of the Land) has identified the Adani Group—known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi—as one of the key Indian business houses engaged in defence cooperation with Israel. Pointing out that India supplied the Israeli military with Hermes 900 drones, the daily reported that this advanced aerial vehicle came off “the production line in a factory set up in Hyderabad, as part of the cooperation between the Israeli Elbit and India's Adani Group.”

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor. 

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Environmental concern? Global NGO leads campaign urging banks to cut ties with Odisha steel project

A decade after the withdrawal of the South Korean multinational POSCO from Odisha following large-scale protests, questions remain about whether India-based JSW Steel, which took over the project, can successfully revive the 13.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel plant and coal-fired power plant. POSCO initiated the project in 2005 but exited in 2017 due to sustained local opposition.

Irrational? Basis for fear among Hindus about being 'swamped' by Muslims

I was amused while reading an article titled "Ham Paanch, Hamare Pachees", shared on Facebook, by well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy, an alumnus of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Guruswamy, who has also worked as an advisor to the Finance Minister with the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, seeks to probe, as he himself states, "the supposed Muslim attitude to family planning"—a theme that was invoked by Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister ahead of the December 2002 assembly polls.

Olympics ready? Overflowing gutters in Amit Shah's high profile constituency: Vejalpur, beyond

A few days ago, I was talking to a close acquaintance who used to live in Bawla, a small town about 35 km west of Ahmedabad. It's an industrial hub with rice processing mills, cotton ginning units, and pharmaceutical companies. The acquaintance, from a very ordinary middle-class background, lived there because his son worked in one of the major pharmaceutical units nearby. However, he recently moved to a housing society in Ahmedabad, and I asked him why.