The recently released ASER 2024 report on education in rural India is a stark reminder of the country’s growing educational crisis, one that threatens not just the academic future of millions of children but also India’s long-term economic and technological aspirations. The findings highlight a persistent and deeply concerning stagnation in basic arithmetic skills over the past decade, a trend that, if left unaddressed, could erode India’s competitive advantage in the global knowledge economy and undermine its workforce potential at every level.

A look at the trends in arithmetic proficiency over the last ten years reveals that India has made minimal progress in improving basic mathematical competencies among children. The ASER arithmetic assessment is based on very simple tests, evaluating whether students can perform subtraction (a two-digit numerical subtraction problem with borrowing, expected to be mastered by Std II students) and division (a three-digit by one-digit numerical division problem with remainder, aligned with Std III/IV curricular expectations).

Despite the basic nature of these tests, student performance at the national level has remained almost unchanged over the last decade, with no significant upward trend in the proportion of children who can successfully perform these operations.

For instance, in Std III, the percentage of children who could do at least subtraction was 25.4 per cent in 2014 and gradually rose to 33.7 per cent in 2024. Similarly, in Std V, the percentage of children who could successfully perform division was 26.1 per cent and marginally rose to 30.7 per cent in 2024. While some states have shown progress, the national average has barely moved forward, indicating that improvements are neither widespread nor consistent. Even by Std VIII, when students........

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