Context: Recently, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the first State of Elementary Education in Rural India report.

Key Highlight of the Report:

• Pan-India survey was conducted by the Development Intelligence Unit (DIU), across 6,229 rural households in 20 states, focussing on 6 to 16-year-old children in rural communities.
• Equality Among Gender: Parents from rural communities believe that a child’s gender, whether a boy or a girl, should not hinder their educational aspirations. 
  • Total of 78 percent of parents of girls and 82 per cent of parents of boys wanted to educate their children to graduation and above.
• Parental participation: About 84 percent of parents regularly attend parent-teacher meetings, demonstrating their active involvement in their children’s education.
• Role of Parents: Majority of children (62.5 per cent) are under the supervision of their mothers when it comes to their studies, while 49 per cent are supervised by their fathers.
  • Over 38 per cent of parents opt for private tutors to further enhance their children’s education.
  • About 26 per cent of the children study under the supervision of a private tutor.
• Drop Outs: Out of the total dropped-out children, around one-fourth of male children discontinued their education during primary schooling, due to lack of interest in studies.
  • Dropout rate for female children is high at 35 per cent, due to the need to contribute to the family’s earnings. 
  • A higher proportion of both boys and girls dropped out of school after completing the primary school education (75 per cent for boys and 65 per cent for girls).
• Increased access to smartphones: Nearly half, 49.3 percent of students in rural India have access to smartphones. 
  • 76.7 percent of these students primarily use their phones for entertainment purposes, such as playing video games and watching movies. 
  • Only 34 percent of smartphone-accessible students use their devices for study-related downloads, while 18 percent access online learning through tutorials.
• Learning Environment at Home: 40 percent of parents have age-appropriate reading materials available at home, beyond school books. 
  • Only 40 percent of parents engage in daily conversations with their children about their school learning, while 32 percent have such discussions a few days a week.

News Source: India Today