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Journalism of Courage
Can students in municipal schools in the city write at the level they should? Data from assignments which are part of the assessment tools introduced this year, which ask students to not just read text but also write on a given topic, shows slow progress.
After the introduction of a writing assessment at Level 5 —the desirable level at which a student should be as per the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy program — an increase of about 4 percentage points from 7.31% in April this year to 11.63% by the end of August was witnessed, as per data accessed by The Indian Express. (See box)
This data pertains to the performance of MCD school students between grades third to fifth. About 4.1 lakh enrolled in the programme in April 2023 which rose to about 4.3 lakh by the end of August.
A similar exercise between April last year and March this year, where reading, comprehension and numeracy was assessed, saw an increase of 23.5 percentage points — from 13.16% at the start of the programme to 36.66% at the end.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Kumar Akhilesh, MCD mentor and coordinator said, “The performance at each level last year was based on reading skill only but this year, going by NEP 2020 which states that foundational literacy of students should be based on reading, writing and understanding, writing was introduced. The progress of students will be slow as compared to last year.”
Data shows that 27.4% students were at level 3, which has risen to 37.11% since April. “This is like a sapling that we have just planted… students who reach level 3 won’t take too long to get to level 5,” Akhilesh added.
The programme, which also runs in Delhi government schools, was initiated in municipal schools to take students from the basic level to the advanced age-appropriate learning levels.
“Writing is very important… This year, the tools we have introduced focus on teaching the student to read, identify and write the words down… reading is to voice out a thought, whereas writing is about creativity and skill,” Akhilesh added.
School principals, who have been implementing the programme, also highlighted some challenges. “This time, students were made to sit in classrooms as per their levels and taught to read and write. Earlier, there were combined classes… it was difficult for teachers to pay attention to students who were in level 1,” said a principal of MCD school on condition of anonymity.
She added, “Students who were at level 4 last year have moved to level 3 as writing assessment has been introduced, and it is difficult for students to cope with writing as easily as they did with reading.”
(edited by Nikitha Phyllis)
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