Quality of Elementary Education in India’s Rural Areas: Results from Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014

Abstract

The quality of elementary education plays a critical role in an individual’s growth. Thus it has the capacity to develop a nation’s human resources. This study has examined the capabilities of young students who enrolled at the elementary level in schools located in India’s rural areas and their proficiency in different subjects, specifically their own regional language, mathematics and their knowledge of English. In order to measure the performances of students enrolled in Classes 1–VIII, the study used the principal component analysis (PCA) on original, 12 correlated variables. A standardised regression score of two factors, generated from PCA, was used to measure the status of education at the elementary level for different states. By considering the total score of two factors, using the PCA, it was found that most of the states in the southern parts of the country, that is, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and the North-East region, that is, Assam, Mizoram, Tripura, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, exhibited better academic performances as compared to other states.

Keywords

ASER 2014 PCA elementary education in India rural education

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