Chennai: Only half the number of children in Classes 3 to 5 in rural Tamil Nadu can read a Class 1 textbook in their mother tongue, and only 31% in Classes 6 to 8 can do division. The findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), released by non-government organization Pratham Foundation, show that learning levels of children in rural parts of the state are poor, and much lower than the national average.
As many as 53.4% of children in Class 1 can’t identify alphabets in their mother tongue; 34.2% are able to identify letters, 10.3% can read words and less than 2% can read their textbooks. The number of children in Class 3 in private schools who can read a Class 1 level textbook has decreased since 2012, so has the number of Class 5 children who can read a Class 2 level textbook since five years ago. Arithmetic skills of children have also declined.
In her article ‘The first step’ analyzing the learning outcome of children, ASER Centre director Rukmini Banerji said discussions must be held to understand curriculum expectations in Class 1. “At age 5, children’s ability to learn needs to be supported well, but in most states the Class 1 curriculum covers a great deal of content very quickly, so that many children are left behind even before they have started.”
She said despite the RTE Act’s insistence on completing the syllabus on time, the goal considered should not be a race to finish all chapters but to enable all children to reach the learning objectives that have been decided on.
As many as 53.4% of children in Class 1 can’t identify alphabets in their mother tongue; 34.2% are able to identify letters, 10.3% can read words and less than 2% can read their textbooks. The number of children in Class 3 in private schools who can read a Class 1 level textbook has decreased since 2012, so has the number of Class 5 children who can read a Class 2 level textbook since five years ago. Arithmetic skills of children have also declined.
In her article ‘The first step’ analyzing the learning outcome of children, ASER Centre director Rukmini Banerji said discussions must be held to understand curriculum expectations in Class 1. “At age 5, children’s ability to learn needs to be supported well, but in most states the Class 1 curriculum covers a great deal of content very quickly, so that many children are left behind even before they have started.”
She said despite the RTE Act’s insistence on completing the syllabus on time, the goal considered should not be a race to finish all chapters but to enable all children to reach the learning objectives that have been decided on.
No comments:
Post a Comment