Haryana Students Struggle with Basic Math, Falling Behind Neighboring States

Concerning trends in Haryana education system have been revealed by the Annual Status of Education Report(ASER). The report revealed that only 43.1% of the 8th grade students in rural government schools can solve basic division problems which is a significant drop from the 49.5% in 2022. Students in the state can not even solve basic fraction questions. According to the report, only 29.4% of fifth-grade students in Haryana can solve fractions, which is better than 2022, but still far behind Himachal Pradesh (44%) and Punjab (46.3%).  Similarly, in Haryana, 33.1% of third-grade students can solve subtraction questions, while students in Himachal Pradesh (46.7%) and Punjab (43.9%) shows better results.Haryana lags behind the neighbouring states as Punjab is at 58% while Himachal Pradesh stands with 44% proficiency in basic math division. 

Decline in Reading Skill

Only 53.9% of the students of 5th grade can read second grade level texts. Students in rural government schools shows no interest in reading and writing. Punjab(60.8%) and Himachal Pradesh(65.8%) leads Haryana in this domain as well. The more statistics of concern are that only 32.1% can read at second grade level which shows a significant education gap at the primary level. 

Infrastructure Challenges Hampers School Development

The government schools in Haryana face major infrastructure challenges as about 20.8% of schools have non-functional toilets, while 14% lack clean and safe drinking water facilities. On the other hand, 3.1% of the schools do not have the separate toilet facilities for boys and girls. The figures about digital literacy are quite disturbing as 71% of the schools lack computer facilities and 13.6% lack libraries. According to the report, The enrollments rate has decreased from 51.9% in 2022 to 46% in 2024 for the students between 6-14 years.

Gender Gap in Digital Literacy 

Noteworthy gender disparity is there in the number of digital literacy among 14-16 year olds. Only 60.5% of girls can manage private social media profiles compared to 72.9% of boys. Password management skills show a similar gap, with 61.2% of girls versus 75.7% of boys being proficient. The disparity extends to smartphone access, with 68.6% of 14-year-old girls having access compared to 74.4% of boys.