The survey was conducted on students across the country, and they were tested under various subjects including Comprehension, Mathematics, English and Environmental Studies.
According to the latest survey undertaken by National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), only 36 per cent students at class V level in India could comprehend a basic question about disability - "How can the visually disabled become scholars?" The professors who were involved in the survey were appalled by the kind of understanding that children had about disability and health issues.
The question was posed to them after they were made to read a short write-up on visually disabled persons. A part of the passage read – "Millions of people in the world are visually disabled. Formerly, people thought that visually disabled people could not do anything. But now a days, many schools have opened. All these facilities are available to the students for studying. Now many visually disabled students are earning their livelihood after finishing their studies. Many of them have become scholars in the world".
There were a number of questions based on this passage and one of them was "the visually disabled can become scholars by". The choices to the question were — taking nutritious diet, getting back their eyesight, eye transplant and studying hard. Only 36 per cent students could interpret and give the correct answer. The students didn't perform well in other related questions as well.
"This shows the kind of understanding that students in India have about disability. It is however, not completely their fault. They are never taught about such things, not in schools, not at home. They just get to learn whatever is included in their basic school curriculum," said a senior NCERT official who was a part of the survey.
The survey was conducted on students across the country, and they were tested under various subjects including Comprehension, Mathematics, English and Environmental Studies. "The aim of this survey was to understand the basic knowledge and comprehension ability of young children. We do not give them the kind of questions that appear in examinations, instead we test their ability on competitive questions," said Professor Y Sreekanth, who was the head of the survey team.
The survey has revealed that most of the students have scored below average in Comprehension, Mathematics and Environmental Studies. "The purpose of such large-scale assessments will only be fulfilled when the findings get translated into action within the classroom and result in improvement in students learning," adds Prof Sreekanth.
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