ANI photo.
New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the Modi-led Union government over the falling standards of education in India. Kharge said that India should ensure justice for its students in 2024, according to a PTI report.
"More than 'Amrit Kaal', we need 'Shiksha Kaal' for India," he said in a post on X. "In 2024, India shall ensure NYAY for our students from the Modi Government, for its report card on 'Education' is marked with gross Failure," he said, citing the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER).
Quoting from the report, he said, "56.7 per cent of 14 to 18-year-old students in rural India can't do class 3 math and 26.5 per cent of this age group still cannot read a class 2 level text fluently in their regional language".
He also noted that 25 per cent of youth in the 17-18 age group had discontinued education, mostly due to a "lack of interest".
Kharge also posted a 35-second video along with his post that alleged that the "BJP is destroying the future of our young."
The ASER inferred that one out of every five youths was unable to name a work or job they aspired to do. They don't know what to study, how much further to study, what kind of work they should look for, what kind of jobs are in demand, etc. Questions regarding these were mostly unanswered, which suggests that these students do not have valuable resources to know about their future or decide on their aspirations.
The report, titled "Beyond Basics", subjected 34,745 students from 28 districts across 26 states to the study. It focussed on the age group 14 to 18.