Times
of India: Jaipur: Wednesday, 14 January 2015.
State
government schools continue to register negative growth in learning levels in
subjects arithmetic, reading and comprehension from 2006. The Annual Status of
Education Report, 2014 tabled in New Delhi by Pratham, an NGO, on Tuesday says
that the share of class V government school students who can read class II
text, which was 59% in 2006 has reduced to 39% in 2014. Those class V
government school students, who can do division, has reduced from 39% in 2006
to 19% in 2014.
The shocking
finding of this survey says that 60.7% of class I students can't even read a
letter forget about a word. In class III, 15.3% students cannot read letters
and only 28.9% can read only letters. It further says that 46.7% of class V
students cannot read class II text. The data that directly questions the
quality of education here is that 19.5% of class VIII students failed to read
class II text. In 2010, 80.5% students in class II were reading letters, which
has reduced to 56.2% in the year 2014.
When it comes
to the learning levels in arithmetic, the performance of students has touched
an all time low with 52.7% of class XII students being unable to perform
division, another 77.1% students cannot subtract. The level is such that only
25.4% of class VIII students can recognize 10-99 numbers. If this is the
situation of class VIII students, one can easily imagine the arithmetic level
in lower standards. In 2010, 82.3% students in class II were recognizing
numbers 1-9, which has reduced to 65.8% in 2014.
The next
component of learning level is comprehension. Here also the performance of
state schools is shameful. Figures say that 57.4% class VIII students cannot
read easy sentences. Of 42.6%, who can read easy sentences, only 57.8% can tell
the meaning of those sentences. In class V, only 84.6% students are not
competent enough to read and understand easy sentences. With such poor learning
levels, one can estimate the disastrous outcome of state government proposal of
introducing boards in class VIII.
This is the
report card of government schools at the time when state has 84,000 schools
with a contingent of 3.4 lakh teachers. Government in a reply to an RTI query
recently confessed that they are spending Rs 14,000 per child. Examining the
situation, KB Kothari, managing trustee of Pratham, said, "The important
factor of poor learning level is lack of focus in early reading and arithmetic
skills combined with a set of not-so-well-defined goals for each grade level
learning outcome."
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