New Delhi, Jan. 29 -- School education has either recovered from the pandemic's losses or is on its way to doing so. This is the key takeaway from the 14th Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) released by the Pratham Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, on January 28. While part of the recovery can be attributed to students going back to school regularly after missing classes during the pandemic, part can also be attributed to the New Education Policy's (NEP) focus on improving foundational skills or what ASER tracks as learning outcomes. To be sure, the recovery remains uneven across states and enrolment level.

The 14th ASER report is based on a 2024 survey conducted in 17,997 villages across 605 rural districts. It reached ...