Students of government schools in Haryana are weaker in reading than Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. This has been revealed in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2024 report. The report states that only 43.1% of Class 8 students in rural government schools can do division in mathematics. This is a drop of 6.4 percentage points compared to 49.5% in 2022.
In comparison, Punjab leads with 58%, followed by Himachal Pradesh (HP) at 44%. The division test involved solving a one- to three-digit number by dividing it by a single-digit number.
Only 29.4% of Class 5 children can do division
Only 29.4% of Class 5 students in Haryana can do division, which is better than 2022, but still far behind Himachal Pradesh (44%) and Punjab (46.3%). Similarly, 33.1% of Class 3 students in Haryana can read minus, while Himachal Pradesh (46.7%) and Punjab (43.9%) are performing better than the state.
Children lagging behind in reading
The report also assessed reading skills. 53.9% of Class 5 students in Haryana can read Class 2 level text, showing an improvement of 7.1 points, Punjab (60.8%) and Himachal Pradesh (65.8%) are still ahead. Among Class 3 students, only 32.1% students in Haryana can read Class 2 level text, while Himachal Pradesh (46.6%) and Punjab (29.7%) are second.
Enrolment of children aged 6-14 years in government schools in Haryana declined from 51.9% in 2022 to 46% in 2024. Neighbouring states also recorded a decline, but enrollment rates are significantly higher in Himachal Pradesh (58.6%) and Punjab (58%).
14% schools do not have drinking water
Haryana schools face a number of infrastructure challenges, including 20.8% schools with unusable toilets, 14% with no drinking water facilities. 3.1% do not have separate toilets for girls; 20% of those available are unusable.
In addition, 13.6% of schools do not have libraries, and students in 27.2% of schools were not using library books during ASER’s visit. 71.5% of schools did not have computers, while computers were not used in 15.8% of schools.
Improved digital literacy
The report found gender disparity in digital literacy among the 14-16 age group in rural Haryana. 60.5% of girls can make social media profiles private, while 72.9% of boys can. 61.2% of girls can change passwords, while 75.7% of boys can.
Only 68.6% of 14-year-old girls can use a smartphone to complete a digital task, while 74.4% of boys can. Boys also performed better than girls in tasks such as setting alarms, browsing information and sharing online videos.
