Hardly 15.3 per cent school students in rural Jharkhand relied on online medium of education at home in the year 2021, when in-person classes remained suspended across the State in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the latest Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released on Wednesday in New Delhi revealed.According to the ASER survey, at least 5.3 per cent of school students in Jharkhand relied on broadcast mediums such as TV and radio for studying at home during the lockdown, while 44.2 per cent students relied on the traditional ways of studying at home, mostly involving textbooks, notebooks and tutorials.As many as 2,535 children in the age bracket of five years to 16 years participated in the survey conducted in September and October, the official website of ASER stated. At least 461 of the surveyed students studied in class 1 to 2, 631 in class 3 to 5, 646 in class 6 to 8 and 497 in class 8 to 12.During the survey, ASER found that of all the school students surveyed in Jharkhand, 60.2 per cent had at least one smartphone available at home, but only 20.7 per cent of these students had unhindered access to the device. Moreover, about 39.7 per cent of students, who had smartphones available at home, never got access to the devices for education purpose, the survey results revealed. About 39.6 per cent of students, who had smartphones at home, got access to them sometimes.
The percentage of students with smartphones available at home tripled in Jharkhand since 2018. As per ASER data, only 20.6 per cent school students in Jharkhand had smartphones at home in 2018, and the number jumped to 60.2 per cent in 2021. However, the dependency on online mode of education was the fourth lowest in Jharkhand in the year 2021. According to ASER, Bihar students had the lowest online dependency of 10.1 per cent, followed by West Bengal at 13.3 per cent and Uttar Pradesh at 13.9 per cent.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic the number of six to 14 years old students enrolled in government schools rose by over 2 per cent in Jharkhand from 2018 to 2021. According to ASER, 76.1 per cent students were enrolled in schools back in 2018, while 78.6 per cent of eligible students were enrolled in schools in 2021. The percentage of school students with access to textbooks of their respective grades also increased in the state since 2018. As per ASER data, 77.1 per cent Jharkhand students had access to textbooks of their class back in 2018. In 2021, 89.8 per cent students had access to textbooks of their class.In-person classes in all Jharkhand schools remained suspended from March 2020 to late 2021 owing to the Covid-19 crisis. The government launched several campaigns during this period to encourage online education for students.The percentage of six to 14 years old students not enrolled in schools has also increased in the past three years in Jharkhand. According to ASER, 2.1 per cent of 6-14-year-old students were not enrolled in schools in Jharkhand in 2018. In 2021, about 2.7 per cent students in this age bracket were not enrolled in schools.