ASER Learning Explorer
How many children in rural India can actually read and do basic arithmetic — and how it varies by state, grade and year. Drawn from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), India's largest citizen-led survey of children's learning.
Reading = the child can read a Std II-level "story" comfortably. Arithmetic = Std III measures at least subtraction; Std V & VIII measure division, as ASER reports them. State figures (Rank / Table / a state's Trend line) are for all children (government + private); the national Trend also breaks out government vs private schools. All children are tested one-on-one in the household; the assessment method is unchanged since 2006, so years are comparable.
Data compiled from the ASER (Rural) 2024 report (Table 15, and Tables 1–9 for national trends & the skill ladder) and the ASER 2016 state pages (Tables 5, 6, 8 & 9) for the 2012–2016 rounds. Every value was cross-checked against the reports’ All-India figures. Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim have data from 2018 only. Facilitated by Pratham. This is an independent, source-linked interface for learning and discussion — for methodology and authoritative interpretation, always consult the original ASER reports. ImpactMojo is not affiliated with ASER Centre or Pratham.