ASER Centre
Evidence for actionASER 2014: RECAP
The Tenth Annual Status of Education Report - ASER 2014
ASER 2014, the tenth Annual Status of Education Report, was flagged off with a six-day National workshop in Aurangabad, Maharashtra from August 1 to 6, 2014. Well over a hundred people comprising ASER teams from Delhi and all 28 states as well as special guests came together to kick start this enormous citizen-led survey through classroom sessions, field visits, and mock trainings on the survey process. .
To mark the ten-year milestone, the National Workshop included an “Innovation Mela” in which state teams showcased some of the many great ideas that they have thought of and implemented in the past in order to improve survey management and planning. The best innovations were selected based on four main parameters: usefulness, scalability, cost effectiveness, and ease of implementation. The Mela worked as a platform for every participating member to learn more about effective management of large-scale surveys; all state teams were encouraged to adopt the winning ideas.
The National Workshop was followed by state-level workshops in every state and district-level workshops in 577 rural districts in the country where volunteers from partner organizations were trained to conduct the survey. Following the district-level workshops, the survey was conducted in 30 randomly selected villages in each of the 577 districts. About 250 District Institutes of Education and Training partnered with us to conduct ASER 2014. The survey took about 100 days to complete with field work coming to a close on December 20, 2014.
The ASER team continues to work tirelessly towards the National report release on January 13, 2015 in New Delhi.
Read our stories from the field here. Stay tuned as we continue to bring you updates on the 10th year of ASER!
Well wishers send their best for the team behind ASER 2014. Click here to read the messages.
Help Support the ASER effort
Donate now to support ASER 2014 (scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 'Help Support the ASER Survey'). Support ASER in a village or a district : INR | GBP | USD
ASER 2014: RECAP
ASER 2014 National Release event: January 15, 2015
Ajay Piramal, Pratham Education Foundation
Baela Raza Jamil, ITA-Pakistan
Yamini Aiyar, Accountability Initiative
ASER 2014 report release events
Conversation on Solutions to the Learning Crisis between Abhijit Banerjee, JPAL- MIT, Madhav Chavan, Pratham, and Yamini Aiyar, Accountability Initiative
Day 2 : Panel Discussion on Citizen-led, Household-based Assessment with representatives from Pakistan, Kenya, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria and Mexico
Day 2 : Panel Discussion on Looking Back, Looking Ahead - International Perspectives with representatives from Pratham, Hewlett Foundation, UNESCO and Harvard Kennedy School
Check out a selection of photos from the two-day event here.
What did ASER 2014 find out? Watch a video of the national findings here
Check out a new series of blog posts featuring ASER voices and reflections
ASER 2014: RECAP
ASER 2014 Pledge
"I, as a citizen of India, have decided to volunteer for the Annual Status of Education Report 2014. This effort aims to engage citizens and the government in the process of ensuring quality education for the children of this country.
For the past 9 years, volunteers like me have traveled to the farthest districts and reached the remotest villages. We have gone from Kashmir to Kerala and from Gujarat to Arunachal, to conduct this survey and collect information with utmost sincerity.
Today, along with 30,000 volunteers across India, I am going to be a part of the largest citizen-led survey of India. I pledge to carry forward the honest work and vision of those who have come before me and become an example for those who will follow me in the years to come.
I understand the importance of recording only correct information in the survey sheets and pledge to do so with complete honesty. Under no circumstances will I avoid my responsibilities during the course of the survey. I pledge to uphold the integrity of the important role this movement has entrusted in me and play my part in building a better India."
ASER 2013 RECAP
ASER's ninth national release is scheduled for January 15, 2014. Here is an overview of the process.
Good luck! Every year ASER is conducted by more than 25,000 volunteers across the country. Dr Madhav Chavan, CEO Pratham, and Dr Rukmini Banerji, Director ASER Centre, had brief messages for them. Watch Dr Chavan and Dr Banerji on YouTube.
National Workshop. Every year, ASER kicks off with the National Workshop where the entire ASER team gets together to review and practice all tools and procedures as well as plan the ASER calendar and logistics for each state. This year the National Workshop brought together over 120 people at Parivartan Parisar in Siwan, Bihar, from August 1-5. See a photo essay about the National Workshop here.
Coverage. ASER 2013 aims to reach 562 rural districts across 29 Indian states and union territories. In each district, 30 villages have been selected from the Census 2001 village directory using the Probability Proportional to Size (PPS) methodology. In each village, 20 households are randomly selected. Keep track of the survey's progress here. Read more about sampling in ASER here.
Survey content. This year, as every year, schooling information will be recorded for all children in the age group 3-16 who are resident in sampled households. Children aged 5-16 will be tested in basic reading and basic arithmetic, and some information about the household will be collected. In each sampled village, the largest government school with primary classes will be visited and information about infrastructure, enrolment, and attendance will be collected. Download the ASER 2013 instruction manual in English / Hindi. View/download ASER reading and math testing tools here
Partners. This year, like every year, about 500 institutions and organizations will partner with ASER to conduct the survey in their own districts. A special feature this year is the participation of 175 DIETs in 8 states. See a list of participating DIETs here.
ASER 2013 stories. From village volunteers to visitors from other countries, anyone who has ever done ASER returns with new insights about the communities they visited and the power of the ASER process to engage all sorts of people in thinking about learning. As ASER 2013 rolls out, people across the country share stories of people and places, experiences and responses. Read ASER 2013 stories on the ASER Centre blog. See the best photos from every state of ASER 2013 in the field on Flickr.
National Release. The ASER 2013 was released on January 15, 2014 by Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission at India International Centre, New Delhi. Watch the full ASER 2013 National Report release function.
The ASER pledge. This year, people all across the country took a solemn pledge to conduct ASER with sincerity and honesty. The pledge was translated into all major Indian languages and was an important part of every ASER training workshop. Watch members of the ASER team take the pledge here.
