A recent survey by Cuemath, a beyond-school math learning programme, found that children in school tend to face a lot of pressure to perform well in Math over any other subject.
The survey found that 89 per cent of the parents believe Math is the toughest subject for their children yet 81 per cent of them expressed that their child’s performance in Math is of the most important to them. To add to this, 77 per cent of the parents surveyed believe that Math is not taught well in schools and 75 per cent of them also look at after-school classes as a must today.
“The problem today is that Math is looked at as just a subject, not a life skill. Blackboard teaching and rote learning have created unnecessary hurdles for great Math learning. Around 79 per cent of the parents surveyed said that their child shows high interest in solving math-based activities like puzzles and Rubik’s cube, a clear indication that an engaging and intuitive way of learning will generate much more interest and curiosity from the child,” Manan Khurma, CEO & founder, Cuemath, said.
73 per cent of the parents surveyed also believe their child’s aversion to mathematics has increased over time, a possible sign of the development of Math Anxiety in children. “Math anxiety stems from a lack of development of strong fundamentals in the subject and can result in the child not just underperforming in school but also developing issues like low self-confidence in the long run. To overcome this, early-stage math-skills development is crucial,” Khurma said.
“The recent move by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to form a committee to tackle ‘Math phobia’ is thoughtful and progressive and I hope it brings in the necessary change to help children overcome this less-spoken of yet powerful issue,” he added. While 68 per cent of the parents surveyed were not aware of the concept of ‘Math Anxiety’, 67 per cent of them said they are willing to take corrective measures in case their child is suffering from this condition.