THE ‘ILLITERATE’ STUDENTS OF PUNJAB PRIMARY SCHOOLS
Chandigarh October 10:
The first survey of basic education skills among government primary school children in Punjab shows that more than 50 per cent of the Class V children cannot read a story in Punjabi, over 25 per cent cannot write Punjabi letters, almost 40 per cent cannot subtract and almost 70 per cent do not know how to divide.
The survey, part of a “Parho Punjab” (“Read Punjab”) project under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, is an effort to quantify the poor standards of primary education in the State. The data gathered from over 11,000 primary schools shows that more than 6 per cent of the children in Class V could not even recognise numbers correctly. Students of Class I to V were tested for reading of letters, words, paragraphs and stories. In Class I, 76 per cent students could not read the letters. In Class III, nearly 45 per cent did not know how to read words. In Class V, 53 per cent of the students could not read a basic story in Punjabi.
“The survey results will help us in further implementing the ‘Parho Punjab’ project because now we have complete information about each and every child. The survey results will be the baseline from where we have to begin,” said the Director-General School Education-cum-State Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Krishan Kumar.
To ensure that the weaker students do not get left behind, they would be grouped together. “Students with reading and mathematics data are grouped together for attention. The teachers involved in the project also know the level of the students they are handling,” he added.
Chandigarh October 10:
The first survey of basic education skills among government primary school children in Punjab shows that more than 50 per cent of the Class V children cannot read a story in Punjabi, over 25 per cent cannot write Punjabi letters, almost 40 per cent cannot subtract and almost 70 per cent do not know how to divide.
The survey, part of a “Parho Punjab” (“Read Punjab”) project under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, is an effort to quantify the poor standards of primary education in the State. The data gathered from over 11,000 primary schools shows that more than 6 per cent of the children in Class V could not even recognise numbers correctly. Students of Class I to V were tested for reading of letters, words, paragraphs and stories. In Class I, 76 per cent students could not read the letters. In Class III, nearly 45 per cent did not know how to read words. In Class V, 53 per cent of the students could not read a basic story in Punjabi.
“The survey results will help us in further implementing the ‘Parho Punjab’ project because now we have complete information about each and every child. The survey results will be the baseline from where we have to begin,” said the Director-General School Education-cum-State Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, Krishan Kumar.
To ensure that the weaker students do not get left behind, they would be grouped together. “Students with reading and mathematics data are grouped together for attention. The teachers involved in the project also know the level of the students they are handling,” he added.
