The also ensured that textbooks and other study materials were provided to school students during the lockdown in 2021. The Percentage of school students with access to textbooks of their respective grades increased in the state from 2018 to 2019, highlighted the ASER survey. As per ASER data, 77.1 per cent Jharkhand students had access to textbooks of their class back in 2018. In 2021, 89.8 per cent students had access to textbooks of their class.
In-person classes in all Jharkhand schools remained suspended from March 2020 to late 2021 owing to the Covid-19 crisis. The government launched several campaigns during this period to encourage online Education for students.
As per government data, there are over 42 lakh students studying in classes 1 to 12 in about 35,000 government schools across the state.
Now, with schools gradually reopening, the School Education and Literacy Department has shifted its focus on improving attendance in classes. In a campaign named Back to School Campus, the education department will ensure enrollment of such children who stopped going to school after the lockdown and build trust in parents that it was safe for their children to attend in-person classes at schools. In the third step, the education department plans to run fun activities at schools to ensure that children develop an interest in going to schools and do not feel that it is forced upon them.
As many as 2,535 children in the age bracket of five years to 16 years participated in the ASER survey conducted in September and October, the official website of ASER stated. At least 461 of the surveyed students studied in class 1 to 2, 631 in class 3 to 5, 646 in class 6 to 8 and 497 in class 8 to 12.