Laggard in Mathematics, not good in language either! Education Ministry's survey reveals the reality of the country's schools.
The children of the country, on whom the foundation of the future rests, are lagging in basic things like Mathematics and Language. Recently, very shocking figures have come to light.
How serious is the condition of education of children studying in lakhs of government and private schools in the country, has been revealed recently in a big survey 'Parakh' of the Education Ministry. This survey was earlier known as 'National Achievement Survey (NAS)'. According to the report, 47% of the children of class three do not even know the tables till 10 and only 55% of the children are able to keep the numbers till 99 in the correct order.
This survey was conducted in more than 74,000 schools in 781 districts of 36 states and union territories, in which about 21 lakh students of classes 3, 6 and 9 participated. Also, questions and answers were asked to more than 2.7 lakh teachers and school administration.
Class III situation is worrying
Class III children lack basic understanding of mathematics. Only 58% students could do addition and subtraction of two digits. That is, every second child is not able to solve simple mathematical questions.
Mathematics is the weakest link in class VI
Class VI children scored the lowest average marks of only 46% in mathematics. The average was 57% in language and 49% in the environmental-social subject 'The world around us'. In this too, only 53% students were able to understand addition, multiplication and their use properly. Education Ministry officials believe that there are serious obstacles in learning in those subjects in which less than 50% students gave correct answers.
Who is ahead, who is behind?
The performance of central government schools was found to be better in the report. Class 9 students of these schools scored the best marks in all subjects, especially in language. At the same time, students of private schools performed well in science and social sciences but proved weak in mathematics.
The performance of state government and aided schools was average. The report also revealed that class three children in rural areas performed better than urban students, but urban students took the lead in class six and nine.
What next?
School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that this survey will not be limited to the report only, but on the basis of this, a comprehensive improvement plan will be made across the country. He said that now a multi-level strategy is being prepared based on the findings of this report so that the quality of learning can be improved.
