Primary school kids do well: Study

A glance at the mean achievement score of students from class 3-8 reveals that in Class 3, it is 84 per cent for Tamil, 79 per cent for English and 84 per cent for Maths and when it comes to Class 5, the performance declines. It is 79 per cent for Tamil, 73 per cent for English and 79 per cent for Maths. It further declines in Class 8 students - 73 per cent in Tamil, 66 per cent in English and 69 per cent in Maths.

When the mean achievement score of Class 5 is compared with the national average with the state average, we see that the primary school fares. 

When it comes to language, the national average is 241 and TN scores 259. In Mathematics, the national average is 241 but TN scores 264 and the national average for environmental studies is 244 but TN scores 267. 

Now, if the same comparison is done for Class 10 students, there is a stark difference. While the national average in English is 250 it is only 225 in TN. 

In Mathematics, compared to national average of 250, TN scores 226. The state score for Science, Social Science and language is 229, 215 and225 respectively where in the national average is 250 for all the subjects.

“There is something wrong at the upper primary and the secondary level. TN is one of the few states where the learning level of students in the rural area is slightly better than that of urban areas,” points out professor K Ramachandran, an educationalist associated with The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). He adds that data is collected from NCERT and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. 

He adds that change in teaching improves the learning performance of students. “Often children don’t learn because of the teaching methodology,” Ramachandran says.  

Reasoning the disparity, he says, “I have visited 19 of 32 districts and I have noticed that there are not sufficient subject teachers at upper primary and secondary level in schools. There are science teachers that teach social science and the same teacher is taking arts and science class. This has to change. This is the main reason for the decline in performance.”