Over 50% of 8th standard students in Telangana don’t know division, subtraction: Study

Hyderabad: More than half of the students studying in the eighth standard in Telangana don’t know basic arithmetic, including subtraction or division, reveals a report.

In the Annual Status of Education Report, 2018 released in collaboration with NGO Pratham network, it was found that 66.6% of students studying in the eighth grade in Telangana cannot subtract correctly. The report also found out that basic arithmetic ability in subtraction has been decreasing since 2010.

A similar issue persists with regard to basic division among students. Almost 51.3% of students in eighth standard are unable to do division. The data further reveals that the number of students, from both government and private schools, who can do it appropriately has been on the decline. From 61.6% in 2012, it has touched a pitiable to 48.7% in 2018.

Reading levels decline

Another observation from the ASER report is that the reading levels of students have also registered a slump. While in 2012, when 85.6% of students studying in eighth standard could read a basic text of Class 2, this number has reduced to 69.6% in 2018.

The report also shows a major gap between qualities of reading between government schools and private schools. As of 2018, almost 37% of eighth standard in government schools are unable to read a basic standard 2 text, while for private schools, this number becomes 11%.

According to several teachers, the poor performance of students in Telangana schools is a matter of grave concern.

Speaking to NewsMeter, Tapati Mallick, a private school teacher said, “We are facing this crisis mainly because the basic foundation is not strong. When the concepts are not clearly taught to them, doubts will remain and students will not be able to cope up with it, as they go to the next level. When teaching lessons is without using relevant examples, children will not understand and this negligence will reflect in their studies.”

Earlier in December, Finance Minister Harish Rao made a surprise inspection at a Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) at Sangareddy. He was surprised to know that several students of the tenth standard were unable to either recite tables or write their names in Telugu.

The annual survey by ASER, a regular feature since 2005, aims to provide reliable annual estimates of children's schooling status and basic learning levels for each State and rural districts in India.