India may have given the concept of zero to the world but when it comes to calculating decimals our own students cut a sorry figure.
NEW DELHI: India may have given the concept of zero to the world but when it comes to calculating decimals our own students cut a sorry figure.
The national Mid-Term Achievement Survey (MAS) conducted by NCERT to assess the learning achievement of children at Class V has taken the fizz out of the popular Indian belief that Indians are good with numbers. The study found that students in primary schools performed quite poorly in mathematics but did well in languages and environmental studies (EVS). The survey covered 84,322 students, 14,810 teachers and 6,828 schools (both government and private) across 266 districts of India.
During the survey, about 70% students scored over 50% marks in languages, and 49% made the cut in EVS. But in maths, it was only 41% students who could manage over 50%.
It was found that only 11% students achieved more than 80% marks in mathematics while 32% scored less than 30% marks. Concepts of fraction, decimal and measurement were found to be the most difficult areas for the students in the subject and only 38% to 40% of students answered these questions correctly.
West Bengal, with an average of 61%, was the best performing state, followed by Karnataka (57.48%) and Jharkhand (57.4%). The national average in mathematics was 48.46%, indicating an increase of 1.95% from Base Line Achievement (BLA) measured in 2001-02. Only eight states scored more than the national average. These were West Bengal, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
While there was no significant difference between boys and girls in achievement in maths, rural children, particularly boys, scored better than their urban counterparts.
In urban areas, girls scored significantly better than boys and social group wise, children from other’s and OBC category scored better than their SC and ST counterparts.
The national average achievement in EVS was 50.30% with Karnataka being the best performing state followed by Bengal. Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Goa performed below 40% level.
In languages too, West Bengal with an average of 69.27% turned out to be the best performing state followed by Kerala (67.34) and Delhi (67.32%). Comprehension was found to be comparatively difficult as compared to other language elements. In descriptive question of 10 marks, 23% of children scored zero and only 11.5% could score 100% marks. In grammar usage and reading comprehension, the achievement of urban students was significantly better than those from rural areas.
Achievement in languages increased by 8% when children had access to newspapers and other supplementary reading material at home. The achievement has enhanced by about 2% in all subjects as a result of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan inputs. Achievement of SC children significantly improved in all three subjects by 2% (language) to 4% (mathematics). Some of the states such as Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka made significant progress.
p_vineeta@dnaindia.net
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