The Number Game

Math anxiety affects all of us at some time or the other. In schools you hear “horror stories” of how students are trying to cope with the ‘awful’ algebra and ‘taxing’ trigonometry.  Students even sign up for courses, which have little to do with Math. Recently students in a Bachelor of Mass Media (BMM) class were asked why they had opted for the course. “Many replied that it was because BMM didn’t have Math in its curriculum,” says Azka Shaikh, a second year BMM student at the RD National College.  But you don’t require a “Math brain” to tackle the tricky problems. Mathematicians say that the fears are unfounded. They believe that with the right kind of training, even an average student can excel at the subject. The problem lies with the kind of training one receives. “Most students study through their college and JEE exams with the focus on high scores rather than understanding the subject,” says Sudhir Ghorpade, head, Department of Mathematics, IIT-B. This is perhaps why even at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology up to 10 per cent of first year B-Tech students fail in their Math exams. India’s dismal performance in PISA, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment in 2009 is a case in point.  PISA evaluates the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems in some 70 countries. India secured the second last spot. Analysts attributed the Indian debacle to participants’ “lack of clarity about the concepts behind the questions asked at the test.”As a result, India could not participate in the competition last year. Experts squarely blame the teachers for this sorry state of affairs. According to Padmabhushan awardee MS Raghunathan, head of National Centre for Mathematics (NCM), “Since the mathematical concepts are not clear to the teachers, they are not able to communicate well in class.” Also system doesn’t allow students the freedom to question teachers. Devoid of classroom discussions, students don’t challenge what is taught on campus. “Often classroom debates are not encouraged. Teachers should inspire confidence among students and allow their curiosity to flourish,” opines Ghorpade.NCM was set up in 2011 by IIT-B and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to provide additional training to college teachers, research scholars and post doctoral fellows through short term training schools in various universities and research institutes across India. “One of the reasons of setting up the NCM was to hone the Math skills of the professors,” says Jugal K Verma, professor, Department of Mathematics, IIT-B.  In 2014 the NCM will organise about 30 training schools for college teachers and researchers. Until now 1000 of them have been trained through the residential programmes and workshops held in various mathematics departments across the country.According to Verma, Math textbooks are another problem. The Math syllabus is extensive and of a higher level as compared to countries like Germany and Japan. Besides, other countries package the syllabus in an attractive manner.Countries like Japan and Germany use cartoon characters and elaborate graphics to illustrate equations and explain them. “Though we have the best content our presentation lacks interactivity,” says Verma. “Math textbooks need visual appeal. It is a difficult subject which needs to be made interesting to keep the students captivated,” he adds. It is not only the quality, but also the quantity of teachers that is responsible for the phobia. “At the moment we need at least 10 teachers in our department, but we are functioning with only three,” says UG Dixit, head, Department of Statistics, University of Pune. Verma voices that Math department across IITs in the country have at least 20 vacancies each.  Dnyaneshwar Doke, vice principal, Dahanukar College believes that rural students fare far better in Math as compared to their city counterparts who are concerned with scoring well in their exams. “This is because rural schools focus on teaching the practical mathematical transactions, whereas in urban areas students are burdened with many other subjects,” explains Doke. However, all is not lost in the country that boasts of mathematicians like Aryabhatta and Ramanujan. With institutes like NCM training the teachers and independent math training institutes springing up, there is solution at both ends of the spectrum to cure the perennial Math phobia.