Dimapur, September 16 (MExN): Pratham began its two days training for the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) volunteers in Dimapur today. The workshop was conducted by ASER master trainers from Delhi for 13 volunteers. The volunteers were mainly young people willing to help in conducting the survey for ASER in Dimapur district. The workshop consists of training on the method of survey and discussion hours. The volunteers will also be given field training before the actual survey begins.
Sanen Ao, a master trainer for ASER said 30 villages will be covered in Dimapur for the survey. The survey will target 20 household in each village leading to a total of 600 households in the entire district. The assessment will test mathematical ability and reading skills of children between the ages of 5 to 16. A background check on the parents of the children will also be conducted. The survey will begin next Monday and will wind up September 30. Surveys in other districts of the State will also be conducted simultaneously. The entire exercise will be tentatively over by mid October; after which the data will be compiled and sent to Delhi.
ASER is the largest and the most reliable annual survey of rural children done by the citizen of India every year since 2005. ASER is facilitated by Pratham, a non-government organization working to provide quality education to the underprivileged children of India. Through its programme, Pratham aims to ensure that enrollment in schools increases, learning in schools and communities increases, the education net reaches children who are unable to attend school and that models are replicated and scaled up to serve large numbers of children to achieve a large scale impact.
