Foundational learning gaps persist in Karnataka’s rural schools, with a significant number of young students struggling with basic literacy and numeracy skills, according to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024. The survey found that more than 7% of Class 3 students in Karnataka cannot read letters, while 19.3% can identify letters but not words, and 36.2% can read words but not Class 1 level text or higher. 4.8% of students in this grade cannot recognise numbers from 1 to 9.
ASER is an annual citizen-led survey that provides reliable insights into children's schooling and learning outcomes across rural India. ASER 2024 assessed 6,49,491 children across 17,997 villages in 605 rural districts.
In Karnataka, the survey covered 30 districts, 900 villages, 17,702 households, and 1,20,336 children aged 3 to 16 years. The findings, released on Tuesday, January 28, highlight persistent challenges in literacy and numeracy among young students in the state.
The report revealed that 21.5% of Class 3 students in Karnataka can read Class 1-level text but not Class 2-level text, while only 15.9% can read Class 2-level text. Among Class 5 students, only 32% in government schools and 37.8% in private schools can read Class 2 level text. Alarmingly, 1.2% of Class 8 students still struggle with recognising letters.
There has been some improvement in reading levels. The percentage of Class 3 students who can read Class 2 level textbooks has nearly doubled in government schools, from 7.7% in 2022 to 15.4% in 2024. In private schools, it has increased from 11.7% to 17.2% over the same period.
The survey also highlights concerns about foundational numeracy. Among Class 3 students, 16.3% can recognise numbers up to 9 but not up to 99, and 53% can recognise numbers up to 99 but cannot perform subtraction. Only 3.5% of students in this grade can solve division problems.
In government schools, 23.9% of Class 3 students were able to perform numerical subtraction, an improvement from 19.6% in 2022. This remains lower than private schools, where 31.1% of students demonstrated subtraction skills—the same percentage as recorded in 2022.
To test their mathematical abilities, students were given two-digit subtraction and division problems. The report found that only 19% of Class 5 students and 35% of Class 8 students in government schools could solve division problems. In private schools, these numbers were higher, at 25% and 43%, respectively.