The reading and arithmetic skills of the students of rural Uttarakhand are a cause for major concern for the educationists and planners here. Almost 40 per cent of the students passing out from class V cannot read simple class II standard text.
The arithmetic ability of these students is so low that more than 65 per cent failed to solve a simple division problem which involved dividing a three digit figure by a single digit. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2013 in its recently released survey has come up with these worrisome facts.
ASER aimed to find out whether children in rural areas go to school, how well they can read in their own language and whether they can do basic arithmetic. Interestingly while 51.5 per cent students of class V could solve the simple arithmetic problems in 2010, only 35 per cent could do so in 2013. The students of the government schools are sloppier in solving the problems as only 23.9 per cent could solve simple arithmetical problems compared to the 48.7 per cent government school students who could do so in. Similarly the proportion of children in class III who could not solve simple two-digit subtraction problems with borrowing has increased from 60.2 per cent in 2010 to 69.7 per cent in 2013.
This puts a question mark on the teachers’ efficiency and capabilities as arithmetic skills of students have dropped to half in last three years in Government schools. The increase in the incidences of multi grade class rooms could be one of the causes for this drop in reading and arithmetic skills of the students as 73.2 per cent students of different standards were found sitting together in 2013 while in 2010 this figure was 61.9 per cent.
The education department does provide regular refresher courses and training programmes for its primary school teachers. Uttarakhand Primary Education additional director, Vandana Gardyal told The Pioneer that the department is committed to increase the knowledge levels of the students and senior officers regularly visit schools to check the quality of education being imparted. “But the teachers should be self motivated to impart good education to their students,” Gardyal said.
The educationists however blame the State Government for the dismal state of reading and arithmetic among the students. The State Government has failed to fill the vacancies of the teachers in the primary schools of the State. Almost all the primary schools in the rural areas have only one or two teachers, which forces them to teach students of different classes in one classroom. The Government teachers are also deployed for works like census, updating electoral rolls and keeping record of mid day meals which drastically reduces the teaching time available for the rural students.