At a time when the government has been emphasising on “digital education“, the survey has revealed that around 20% of rural children do not have textbooks at home.

The survey was carried out by the Annual State of Education Report (ASER) in September.

It may be mentioned here that in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country have remained closed since March.

The survey revealed that in Andhra Pradesh, less than 35% of children had textbooks, and only 60% had textbooks in Rajasthan.

Over 98% of students had textbooks in West Bengal, Nagaland and Assam.

The survey further revealed that in the week of the survey, about one in three rural children had done no learning activity at all.

It also revealed that around two in three children had no learning materials or activity given by their school that week, and only one in ten had access to live online classes.

The ASER survey also found that that 5.3% of rural children aged 6-10 years had not yet enrolled in school this year, in comparison to just 1.8% in 2018.