One in every three children in classes 1 and 2 has never attended physical school before because of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggests the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021.

The report said that among government school students of classes 1 and 2, about 36.8% never attended pre-primary classes. The figure is 33.6% in private schools. It further stated that around one-third of all children in classes 1 and 2 did not have access to smartphones. Additionally, only about 33.5% of children in these classes of yet to be reopened schools have received learning material from their schools, either as print or virtual worksheets, online or recorded classes or other video clips.

The survey was conducted across 25 states and three Union Territories, reaching 76,706 households and 75,234 children aged 5-16 years, besides teachers or head teachers from 7,299 government schools… (NDTV – PTI, November 18, 2021)