Half of Class 10 students not learning well in school

GURUGRAM: Results of the National Assessment Survey (NAS), carried out by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on Class X students of government and private schools in the city in February, are out. And the findings are disturbing to say the least. The NAS reveals over half the students of Class X are not learning well in their classes. Across the district, 31.57% students were able to correctly answer mathematics questions. The corresponding figure for English is 34.21%. The survey, designed to provide information on the learning achievement of students in government and private schools, was conducted on students of Class X across India in February this year. NCERT released the district-wise data of the survey in July, but is yet to release their analysis of state and national surveys. Subjects covered included language (with reading comprehension), mathematics, science, social science, English and Hindi. According to NCERT, NAS is key to knowing how much students are learning in classes.

In Gurugram, 2,917 Class X students across 80 schools were surveyed. In maths, only 24.79% students were able to answer questions on the number system. In science, 26.26% students knew what a natural phenomena was, while 32.39% students had requisite knowledge about languages. Students had a hard time answering geography questions, with 37.26% clearing the exam.

NAS is conducted under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Till last year, NCERT conducted the survey once every three years, but from 2018-19, it will be held every year. The survey reveals students of which state boards are performing well, said NCERT officials.

Professor Indrani Bhaduri, head of educational survey, NCERT and national coordinator, NAS said, “NAS is a large-scale exercise designed to determine educational standards across the country. It uses representative sample of students and must be carefully designed to fit the group being assessed. It’s not an examination. NAS checks general health of the education system, but doesn’t test individual students. This is the first district-wise survey on learning outcomes of students.”

She added, “The findings will be used as inputs in policy and planning, as well as designing pedagogical intervention to improve students’ learning outcomes at district, state and national levels.”

Bhaduri said Gurugram students didn’t perform well because they were not able to exercise their thinking properly. “This survey focuses on collective assessment of a child, and many students in the city were not able to correlate with competency levels. Students need to develop problem-solving methods. Obviously, some work needs to be done in teaching the kids well.

A change in teaching-learning process might be beneficial to students,” she added.

For the first time, private schools were included in the survey. “We wanted to see how students of private and government schools in the same class perform. That’s why we included private schools in the survey,” she added.

Asked about reasons behind Gurugram’s dismal performance, Satyanarayan Yadav, state secretary of Haryana School Teachers Association, said: “There is a tendency in government schools for students to drop out, which is why they aren’t able to perform well.”