Poll-bound Uttar Pradesh has much to worry on the educational front, with the fraction of out-of-school children between six and 14 years of age there climbing to 5.3 % from 4.9 % between 2014 and 2016, as per Pratham's Annual Status of Education (Rural) report for 2016.
Two other States – Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh – also share the dubious distinction, with fractions of out-of-school children climbing from 3.4 % to 4.4 % in the former, and from 2 per cent to 2.8 % in the latter in the same time span.
U.P. also has low attendance rates of children, at 50-60 % , along with Bihar, Manipur, West Bengal and M.P.
The all-India enrolment ratio for the age-group from six to 14 has slightly improved from 96.7-% in 2014 to 96.9-percent in 2016.
But some states continue to under-perform.
In Uttar Pradesh (9.9 % ), Rajasthan (9.7 % ) and MP (8.5 %), the proportion of out-of-school girls between 11 and 14 years of age still stays higher than 8 %.
Areas of concern
There continue to be areas of concern in reading and arithmetic ability, despite a general improvement.
The proportion of Class 8 students who can solve a three-digit by one-digit division problem has dropped from 68.4 % in 2010 to 44 % in 2014, and has slid further to 43.3 % in 2016.
However, the proportion of Class 3 students who can perform a two-digit subtraction has increased from 25.7 % in 2014 to 27.7 % in 2016. The improvement – for the first time since 2010 – comes mainly from government schools.
The English-reading ability of Class 3 students at the all-India level has increased, with 32 % students in 2016 – compared to 28.5 % in 2014 – being able to read simple words.
The ability to read English at Class 5 level, however, stays unchanged.
There is, however, a decline in English-reading ability after this: while 60.2 % Class 8 students could read simple sentences in 2009, the number was 46.7 % in 2014 and 45.2 % in 2016.
Usable toilet availability is rising, with 68.7 percent schools now having usable toilets as against 47.2 % in 2010. Just 3.5 % schools visited across India had no toilets in 2016.
Amid a conscious digital turn, most rural schools still do not have computers. Just 20 % schools had computers in 2016, marginally higher than 19.6 % in 2014.
In Kerala, however, 89 % schools had computers, with the number being 75.2 % in Gujarat, 55.1 % in Maharashtra and 57.3 % in Tamil Nadu.
In Kerala and Gujarat, the proportion of students enrolling in government schools went up in 2016, from 40.6 % in 2014 to 49.9 % in the former state and from 79.2% to 86 % in the latter.
There was nationally no increase in private school enrolment between 2014 and 2016.
