Category: Bottomline

Pratham’s Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2022 — the first full-fledged after the pandemic has now been published.

This is an annual survey published by the education non-profit Pratham which aims to provide reliable estimates of children’s enrolment and basic learning levels for each district and state in India.

It is the annual source of information on children’s learning outcomes available in India.

The survey is conducted by close to 30,000 volunteers

The design enables all children to be included – those who have never been to school or have dropped out, as well as those who are in government schools, private schools, religious schools or anywhere else.

Information on schooling status is collected for all children living in sampled households who are in the age group 3-16 and Children in the age group 5-16 are tested in basic reading and basic arithmetic.

The ASER 2022 report, which surveyed 6.99 lakh children aged 3 to 16 across 616 rural districts

The results of the survey are eye opener in relation to the educational level of the kids

Survey states that the enrolment in the school has improved and the average attendance has also improved

The report highlights the learning loss amongst the students stating that the basic reading ability has dropped to pre2012 levels and that the number of students who can’t read the basic text is alarmingly high…

Similarly the Arithmetic abilities have declined over 70 per cent students can’t do basic operations like subtraction
The report points out that there is increased tuition dependency and finally the English proficiency has significantly declined….

The ASER Report indicate at one thing… and that is the situation needs to be improved at the war footing… will the ASER report show effect…

– -Dr Siddhivinayak Barve
Editor, ScienceNow Digital

Corona is a cause of Concern again as China is battling the sudden surge of Covid infections

China is reporting unprecedented rise in Covid cases. The numbers are frightening. China has reported 37 million infection in a single day. This current crisis with 37 million cases a day is so far the largest in the world.

The latest statistics estimates as many as 248 million people, nearly 18 per cent of the Chinese population is likely got infected due to the virus by the end of December and true to this estimate around 25 Cr individuals are reported to have been infected by the Virus. The predictions are that around 1 million Covid cases with around 5000 deaths per day is projected to come.. Experts predict the peak to come within a week which would last for one or two months

China being our neighbour need immediate attention as per the implementation of the Covid Protocols in the Country. Masks, Testing should be implemented as the precautionary measures.

India has suffered a lot due to Covid. The paucity of Oxygen, Hospitals should be taken care to combat any eventualities. India has opened up post Covid and the economy is coming back to tract.. The new upsurge in China is certainly a cause of concern.

The month end Christmas and the upcoming new year celebrations which in our country should be celebrated with precaution.

As the news trickle in, the surge of Corona is expanding in many countries but for India it is predicted that the wave would be mild because the Indian Vaccines are powerful enough and the population has developed the Immunity.

Testing, Tracking and the Treatment as a Policy should be implemented are war footing

-Dr Siddhivinayak Barve

Editor, ScienceNow

Recently the outbreak of Measles is Causing alarming concern in Maharashtra as well as in the other parts of the Country… In past months the infection is spreading among the children and quite a number of casualties have been reported..

The latest figure states that there are over 10000 active cases in the state.

Measles is the respiratory disease which remains a leading cause of death among young children, despite the fact that a safe and effective Vaccine has been available for 40 years. Measles is an acute illness caused by a virus of the Paramyxovirus family.

The Maharashtra government has kicked off a vaccination drive to protect children against Measles, Rubella and it plans to vaccinate young children in coming weeks.

The vaccine will be provided free of cost in public run hospitals.

Measles is a contagious disease and proper care has to be taken. Proper vaccination is the only right way to control the disease.

-Team ScienceNow

Recent study published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal states that having symptoms of COVID-19 infection is associated with poorer mental health and lower life satisfaction, The study focused at the impact of COVID-19 infection on subsequent mental health and wellbeing….

The study was conducted by researchers at King’s College London and University College London (UCL) in the UK. The sample size of 54,442 participants included patients with and without self-reported COVID-19.

It was revealed that rises in psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and lower life satisfaction were associated with prior self-reported COVID-19. The associations with poorer mental health did not lessen over time after infection, highlighting the potential enduring impacts of the disease and the need for a longer follow-up processes.

Self-reported COVID-19 were consistently associated with psychological distress, regardless of whether people tested positive for antibodies to the virus. The study suggests that the infection of COVID-19 might impact mental health most in older people.

These findings suggest that there were prolonged mental health consequences of COVID-19 infection for some people at the beginning of this pandemic.

–Dr Siddhi Barve

ScienceNow Digital

After the Covid world is now facing another challenge, The Lumpy Virus. It is spreading rapidly in animals, the Lumpy disease is certainly a cause of concern. The disease is reported in over 10 states in the country and more than 20L cattles are reported to have been affected by the virus….

Lumpy Skin Disease in Cattles is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus The Virus is contagious and the disease spreads through the vectors like Mosquitoes, Flies and Ticks and affects animals like Cows and Buffaloes. The disease can either spread through direct contact with the vectors or through contaminated fodder and water. The disease affects the lymph nodes of the infected animals causing the nodes to enlarge and appear like lumps on the skin. The other symptoms include high fever, sharp drop in milk yield, loss of appetite, of animals

The situation in India is serious as over 75000 cattles are lost. The morbidity of the disease varies between two to 45%   and mortality or rate of death is less than 10%, however, the reported mortality of the current outbreak in India is up to particularly in cases being reported in the western part of India.

India has the largest number of cattle and buffalo population worldwide. The current outbreak in India has emerged as a challenge for the dairy sector. The Virus spreads only in cattle and it is reported to be safe to humans and the milk is also reported safe to consume

-Team ScienceNow