Can Delhi’s students read, count better than those in other states? What an NCERT survey shows
For the first time since 2017 when the Centre started the nationwide survey to assess competency development for classes 3,6 and 9, Delhi's government schools performed better than others in the city and country at the foundational stage
4 min read
During the survey, students and teachers from 1,263 schools were surveyed and assessed (File)Students of Class 3 in Delhi government schools fare better in subjects such as Language and Math compared to their peers in private schools — and the rest of the country.
In higher grades, the trend changes. Class 6 students in state government schools performed worse than other school types in Math. Their performance in Language was a tad better than the national figure.
And in Class 9, their performance is marginally better than that of schools across the country in four subjects: Maths, Language, Social Science, and Science.The city’s private schools take the lead in classes 6 and 9.
This is what the Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, a survey conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), has revealed. The report was released on Monday.
It is also the first time since 2017, when the NCERT started the nationwide survey to assess competency development at different levels — Foundational (Class 3), Preparatory (Class 6), and Middle (Class 9) — that the city’s government schools performed better than other schools — government aided, central government and private.
During the survey in 2017 and 2021, then called ‘National Achievement Survey’ (NAS), the performance of students in Delhi government schools was below the national average at the Foundational Level for Language, Maths, and Environmental Science.
Nationwide, learning levels are yet to bounce back to pre-Covid levels in the primary stage, with students in Class 3 still not having caught up with the performance recorded in 2017.
The total number of schools surveyed was 381 for Class 3; 391 for Class 6; and 491 for Class 9. It saw participation from 35,737 students and 4,191 teachers.
Here’s what the report shows
Foundational level
In Language, Delhi govt school students scored 3% above the national average of 64%.
In Maths too, it was 1% above the national average recorded of 61%.
The national average performance of private schools remained behind that of government schools for both these subjects, similar to the national-level trend.
Preparatory level
State government schools take a back seat in three subjects — Language, Maths and The World Around Us — in comparison to all other school types. Barring language, they performed below the national average in the other two subjects.
Private schools take the lead at 67%, above the national average of 60% in Language; 55% in Math, against the national average of 49%; and 59% for The World Around Us, which is 7% higher than national figures.
Middle-level
Assessments in Class 9 revealed that while Delhi government school students performed better than the national average by 7%, private schools continue to lead in the assessed subjects: Maths, Language, Social Science, and Science.
They performed above the national average in all cases — with the highest for Language at 76%.
How schools fared overall in city
When it comes to Math, Delhi students in Class 3 performed the best (at 71%) in identifying shapes, patterns in surroundings and numbers. Their poorest performance (at 43%) was recorded in doing simple transactions such as using money up to Rs 100.
In Class 6, children fared worst in representing commonly used fractions in daily life as parts of unit wholes and in number lines, with only 26% of students answering correctly.
Meanwhile, Class 9 students found it the most difficult to apply percentages in real life, with only 28% giving the right answers. Their performance was the best, on the contrary, in Language competency — 65% of students were able to “carefully listen” or read text including news articles, reports, and editorials and identify and summarise main points.
Another major insight is that overall, central government schools across all three levels performed below the national average.
Recommendations
To improve the abilities of students in Class 3, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic activities, such as “interactive story-telling, picture-word association, and tactile learning materials” as part of building a “multi-sensory learning approach”, have been recommended.
For Class 6, three key areas were identified and “innovative teaching strategies”, improving parent and community participation, and “continuous professional development” have been recommended.
Meanwhile, for Class 9 students in Delhi, skill education for “diverse career paths” is a key suggestion.
You May Like
Photos
