'Education standard not as dismal as projected'

 About one and a half months after a report by Pratham highlighted poor learning levels of elementary school students, the Government on Friday came up with statistics to claim that state of learning at foundational levels was not “as dismal as projected”.

In a report, released by the Human Resource Development Minister MM Pallam Raju here, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) indicated significant improvement in the learning level of class III students across the country.

An assessment of language learning skills of class III students by the NCERT indicated that about 65 per cent of children were able to listen and respond correctly and about 86 per cent were able to recognize a given picture.

While assessing the skills of the children in mathematics, the NCERT noted that 70 per cent of the students were able to handle simple multiplication and 84 per cent were able to handle mathematical data “relevant to their context”.

"Many studies conducted by the NGOs have at times presented a very alarming picture of decline in educational standard in our schools.

These results indicate that the state of learning at foundational levels is not as dismal as projected,” the HRD Minister said while addressing the even organised to release the report. 

The NCERT covered 34 states, 7046 schools, 14092 teachers and 1,04,000 students to carry out its study.

“This is a very detailed and comprehensive study and not a dip-stick or slap-dash job,” the Minister added. 

In its report on the status of elementary education in rural India released on January 15, Pratham, a non-government organisation, indicated no significant improvement in learning outcome of government school students in rural areas.