A study report released on Friday says that a majority of children of primary classes in rural areas are at least two grades below the required level of proficiency in both mathematics and language. It said that while the ability of children to correctly formulate and write sentences on their own is exceedingly low, a high proportion of children in class IV were struggling with basic multiplications and divisions.

The Annual Status of Education Report about teaching and learning in rural India covered 30,000 children in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

The report underlined the need to put in place a system to track attendance with regular reporting and monitoring. It also suggested that indicators for child-friendly education be defined.