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After two years of a pandemic-induced school shutdown that kept children out of schools, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for 2022 has good news and bad.
While children returned to school in huge numbers in 2022, belying fears that the economic crisis and displacement brought about by the pandemic would lead to dropouts, the grim news is that, as expected, the disruption led to a big drop in learning levels in most states, across both government and private schools and for both girls and boys.
According to the 17th ASER report released in New Delhi on Wednesday, as the pandemic ebbed, school enrolment touched a record high in 2022 — 98.4% children in the 6-14 age group are now in school, up from 97.2% in 2018, when the last full pre-pandemic survey was conducted by Pratham.
The proportion of girls not enrolled in schools has also reduced across age groups. For girls aged 11-14, this share dropped from 4.1% in 2018 to 2% in 2022. Back in 2006, the share of out-of-school girls in this age bracket stood at 10.3 per cent.
But it’s the drop in learning levels – foundational skills in reading and arithmetic – that has confirmed the worst fears about the pandemic and its impact on children.
This fall is a huge drop, given how slowly the all-India numbers move, and confirms fears of large learning losses caused by the pandemic.
For instance, between 2014 and 2018, learning levels in terms of reading and basic arithmetic had been rising gradually. The proportion of Class 3 students who were grade-ready or could read a Class 2 textbook had gone up from 23.6% in 2014 to 27.2% in 2018, while those in this grade who could do at least subtraction rose from 25.3% to 28.1%.
However, in 2022, the basic reading ability of children in Class 3 dipped by 6.8 percentage points (from 27.3% in 2018 to 20.5% in 2022), and that of students in Class 5 came down by 7.6 percentage points (from 50.4% in 2018 to 42.8% in 2022).
The proportion of children in Class 3 who could do at least subtraction fell from 28.2% in 2018 to 25.9% in 2022, and that of students in Class 5 fell from 27.9% in 2018 to 25.6% in 2022.
Editorial
Story of Recovery (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Education)
After a gap of four years, the national ASER survey was back in the field in 2022, reaching 616 rural districts of the country to understand children’s enrollment status and basic reading and arithmetic ability.
The Covid pandemic had caused schools to shut down in March 2020, and India had one of the longest school closures in the world — primary schools were closed for almost two years.
The impact of the pandemic on the education sector was feared to be twofold — learning loss associated with long school closures, and higher dropout rates, especially among older children, due to squeezed family budgets.
During the Covid period, ASER looked for opportunities to go back to the field and was able to conduct representative surveys in three states in 2021 — Karnataka in February, Chhattisgarh in October and West Bengal in December.
Estimates from these three state-level surveys could be used to understand the extent of children’s learning losses. These state level estimates are extremely useful as they are the only ASER estimates of learning we have between 2018 and 2022.
For the country as a whole, learning levels had been rising slowly between 2014 and 2018, after being stagnant for several years. For example, at the all-India level, the proportion of children in Class III who could read a Class II level text (a proxy for grade-level reading) had risen from 23.6 per cent in 2014 to 27.2 per cent in 2018.
ASER 2022 shows a big drop in this proportion to 20.5 per cent. This 7 percentage point fall is huge, given how slowly the all-India numbers move and confirms fears of large learning losses caused by the pandemic.
In math also, learning levels had risen slowly between 2014 and 2018. The 2022 estimates show a drop here as well although much smaller than in the case of reading.
However, the four-year period between these measurements encompasses both the period of school closures as well as the initial six to eight months after school reopening, depending on the state.
As mentioned earlier, ASER managed to assess learning levels in three states — Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal – in 2021, when schools were still closed or had just reopened.
While these are not national estimates, they provide an interim measurement that is more reflective of pandemic-induced learning losses than the estimates for 2022.
Across all three states, there were large learning losses in both reading and math in 2021 — in excess of 7 percentage points, except in the case of Std V in West Bengal.
The loss in reading is a little higher, though not by much. In both reading and math, the 2021 learning levels in these three states fell below their 2014 levels.
Govt & politics
India, Maldives have duty for regional peace, security says Jaishankar (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
In a bid to strengthen ties, India and Maldives signed pacts on development projects as External Affairs minister S Jaishankar visited the island country and held talks with the top leadership in the country.
The pact included grant assistance of 100 million Rufiyaa [currency of Maldives] for the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) scheme. A number of socio-economic development projects are planned to be implemented throughout the country under this funding.
It also included the development of a sports complex in Gahdhoo, and academic collaboration between Maldives National University and Cochin University of Science and Technology.
Jaishankar, who is in Male on the first leg of his three-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, said, “We are good neighbours. We are strong partners. We have mutually invested in development and progress. But we also together have a responsibility for peace and security in the region.”
After a “productive meeting” with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid, Jaishankar said the security partnership between the two countries also continues to strengthen which is the way it should be.
The two ministers also witnessed the handover of two sea ambulances from India to the Ministry of Defence of Maldives.
The agreements and MoUs that we have exchanged today again are just reaffirmations of the very strong development partner that we have built. We have jointly reviewed our ongoing infrastructure projects, and the groundbreaking ceremony of what I think without exaggeration is one of the most anticipated projects in the North (of the country).
He said the Hanimaadhoo International airport expansion project, when completed, will actually transform the lives and livelihoods of all the people in the North of Maldives.
Ideas page
Lose sleep over your dreams (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Those who have worked during the Covid-19 pandemic have helped take development forward at a continuous pace. This award [Excellence in Governance Awards] will be remembered for years to come because those being felicitated have worked in such challenging times.
When Covid-19 hit, it was difficult to maintain the parameters of good governance because saving people’s lives became the priority. Crisis management has to be the priority.
In that case, it is impossible to touch all the parameters of good governance. Simply maintaining good governance was a challenge at the time.
Good governance is the key to progress and development for any country, especially for a democratic one. Without good governance in a democratic country, it is impossible to carry the spirit of the Constitution all the way to the bottom.
The Constitution of India, which envisages equal opportunities and equal development for all, can be successful only when it is implemented through good governance at the district magistrate level, at the collectorate level.
The mantra should be received well because in our country, the nodal agency for many schemes, and many works, even today, after 75 years of independence, is the collector.
Poverty alleviation, protection of the rights of the people and overall supervision are all duties of the collector. Agricultural development and industrial development in the district are also monitored through the collector.
All parameters of rural development are monitored through the collector, as well. Good governance at the district collectorate and the collectorate level is a big factor in ensuring that the benefits of government schemes reach the ground. This will help achieve our aim of equal development.
Ever since the Narendra Modi government has come to power, a lot of work has been done on both transparency and accountable administration. Along with these two issues, there has been a concerted effort to mould administrative reforms and good governance.
Pro climate, pro-growth (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
With the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2023 underway, all eyes are on key sustainable development priorities ahead of the UAE’s Presidency of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28).
As the UAE’s global initiative to accelerate sustainable development, ADSW will enable impactful dialogue between global stakeholders and decision-makers on practical, pro-climate and pro-growth solutions for a net-zero future.
Much like ADSW 2023, COP28 will focus on inclusive dialogue, convening governments, scientists, the private sector, youth and civil society to work together on realistic and pragmatic pathways to solutions.
This focus on inclusive dialogue and pragmatism was demonstrated last week with the appointment of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, as President-Designate for COP28.
As Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and founding chairman of Masdar Clean Energy, Al Jaber brings decades of diverse leadership experience in government and business, climate policy, and across the renewable and conventional energy sectors. He has been an active, outcomes-focused participant at over 10 COPs and is deeply involved in the COP process.
COP28 will conclude the first Global Stocktake (GST) — an audit that will demonstrate the gaps between stated climate ambition and reality. Through the GST, COP28 will examine how the world has performed against the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.
Towards this, COP28 will deliver clear, compelling roadmaps for climate adaptation, global energy transition and a loss and damage fund.
COP28 is envisioned as a “solutions COP” with the UAE focused on delivering the Global Stocktake and the Global Goal for Adaptation, as well as achieving practical outcomes which intensify global action to combat climate impact.
COP28 will aim to strengthen the voices of under-represented and vulnerable communities, while building consensus for better, more efficient and more equitable access to climate finance to accelerate the deployment of climate solutions across the world, especially in the Global South.
Explained
Bill in US House to revoke Pakistan’s Non-NATO Ally status (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
A US Congressman has recently moved a Bill in the House of Representatives to revoke Pakistan’s designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally.
The Bill says that for the country to keep the status, the US President must submit a certification to the Congress that Islamabad has met certain conditions.
The Bill, HR 80, was introduced by Andy Biggs, a Republican who represents the fifth Congressional district of Arizona. Before it can turn into a law with a signature from the President, the Bill has to be passed by the House and the Senate. For now, it has been sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Bill says that Pakistan should be demoted from the major non-NATO ally status till the US President can submit a certification that it has met certain conditions.
The conditions listed are: “Pakistan continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in Pakistan; Pakistan has taken steps to demonstrate its commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven; the Government of Pakistan actively coordinates with the Government of Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border; and Pakistan has shown progress in arresting and prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.
The Haqqani network is a terrorist group whose leadership is based in Pakistan, though it operates majorly in Afghanistan. The network came into being during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s and was armed and funded by the US and Pakistan to fight the Russians.
After 9/11, Haqqani turned against the US. US officials have long considered the Haqqani leadership to be among the closest proxies for Pakistan’s ISI.
Green clearance violations: recalling three cases opened by NGT (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 1/3, Geography/Environment)
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set a four-month deadline for remedial actions and recovering damages from the Kulda coal mine run by Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) in Odisha and the Tamnar thermal plant operated by Jindal Power Limited (JPL) in Chhattisgarh for transporting coal through villages in violation of environmental clearance (EC) conditions.
This is one of the three cases initiated by the NGT taking suo motu cognisance of The Indian Express report (February 4, 2022) on six mega projects where stringent clearance conditions to compensate for the high environmental impact were sidestepped, ignored, or met only on paper.
MCL, a subsidiary of the world’s largest coal producer Coal India Limited (CIL), runs an open cast mine in Kulda. Barely 40 km away in Tamnar in Chhattisgarh, JPL, a subsidiary of Jindal Steel & Power Limited (JSPL), operates India’s first private sector mega thermal plant.
Caught between the two are 14 villages on a cratered road on which coal-laden trucks run round the clock, choking lives and livelihoods under a layer of black dust, even as three extensions to the Kulda mine and five concessions to the Tamnar plant were granted since 2014 on promises of alternative coal transport arrangements.
JPL started sourcing coal for Tamnar from Kulda in 2014. By 2015, Tamnar’s EC was amended twice to allow the transportation of coal by road as an interim measure with a March 2017 deadline for setting up a conveyor system.
Subsequently, the Environment Ministry granted three more extensions — in 2017, 2019 and 2020 — to the “interim permission” before doing away with a deadline altogether.
In February 2018, when MCL applied for capacity expansion at Kulda, the Environment Ministry expressed “deep concern over…the status of statutory compliances” before granting EC “in national interest” for one year.
Citing that special road corridors were under construction, another one-year extension of the EC was issued in March 2019, followed by another extension of 30 years in January 2020.
Noise that humans make affects dolphins' communication: study (Page no. 15)
(GS Paper 3, Environment)
A new study has found that noise generated by human activity makes it harder for dolphins to communicate and coordinate with each other. As the levels of underwater noise increase, these mammals have to “shout” to each other.
Published last week in the journal Current Biology, the latest study, ‘Anthropogenic noise impairs cooperation in bottlenose dolphins’, has been authored by researchers Pernille M Sørensen (University of Bristol, UK), Abby Haddock (Dolphin Research Center, Florida) and others.
Dolphins are social mammals that communicate through squeaks, whistles and clicks. They also use echolocation in order to locate food and other objects.
Therefore, anthropogenic noise coming from large commercial ships, military sonars or offshore drilling can severely impact their well-being.
To make their observations, researchers placed two dolphins, named Delta and Reese, at an experimental lagoon and trained them to press their underwater buttons located at either end of the enclosure within one second of each other. Both dolphins were also made to wear recording tags that documented their sound and motion.
Delta and Resse were released from a starting point during each trial, and in some trials, one was held back for five to 10 seconds while the other was released immediately.
In case of delayed-release trials, the dolphins had to depend on just vocal communication to coordinate the button press.
Researchers conducted around 200 such trials and used underwater speakers to create different sound environments within the experimental lagoon.
It was found that as it got noisier underwater, both dolphins changed their behaviour to communicate and work together. Apart from raising the volume and increasing the length of their calls, they also changed their body language — they turned their bodies towards each other and swam across the lagoon to be closer to each other.
Researchers noted despite these attempts to compensate for the noisy background, the dolphins had less success with the task.
According to the study, “cooperative task success decreased in the presence of noise, dropping from 85 per cent during ambient noise control trials to 62.5 per cent during the highest noise exposure.”
Previous studies have demonstrated that dolphins change their behaviour when they come across boats but, before the latest research, no one observed how anthropogenic noise can impact the coordination among these aquatic creatures.
Economy
Why has RBI proposed a new forward-looking approach? (Page no. 17)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday (January 16) published a discussion paper on “loan loss provision”, proposing a framework for adopting an expected loss (EL)-based approach for provisioning by banks in case of loan defaults.
The RBI’s proposal is based on the premise that the present “incurred loss”-based approach for provision by banks is inadequate, and there is a need to shift to the “expected credit loss” regime in order to avoid any systemic issues.
The RBI defines a loan loss provision as an expense that banks set aside for defaulted loans. Banks set aside a portion of the expected loan repayments from all loans in their portfolio to cover the losses either completely or partially.
In the event of a loss, instead of taking a loss in its cash flows, the bank can use its loan loss reserves to cover the loss.Since the bank does not expect all loans to become impaired, there is usually enough in the loan loss reserves to cover the full loss for any one or a small number of loans when needed.
An increase in the balance of reserves is called loan loss provision. The level of loan loss provision is determined based on the level expected to protect the safety and soundness of the bank.
Under this practice, a bank is required to estimate expected credit losses based on forward-looking estimations, rather than wait for credit losses to be actually incurred before making corresponding loss provisions.