HYDERABAD: Telangana is among the five (of 36 states/Union territories) worst-performing states in National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 as its students scored poorly in achieving learning outcomes in various subjects across different levels — class 3, class 5, class 8, and class 10. During the pandemic, 33% of class 10 students said that they did not have a digital device at home.
In the survey, which was released by the ministry of education on Wednesday, 1,45,420 students and 22, 818 teachers from 4,781 schools, both government and private, across the state had participated. The state average was 29% in mathematics, while the national average was 32%. In science and social sciences, the state average was 34% and 36% respectively as against 35% and 37% national average. When it comes to modern Indian language (MIL), the state average was 36% and the national average 41%. However, in English, the state average was 48% and the national average 43%.
On average, 77% of students’ performance in science was below the basic level. When it comes to the performance of class 10 students in MIL and social, 70% and 64% of students’ performance respectively was reported to be below basic level. In mathematics and English, the performance was a little better as only 36% and 16% students’ performance was below basic level.
The overall achievement score of the state in class 10 level was 36.7% as against 37.8% at the national level. The average performance in most of the parameters in achieving learning outcomes was less than 50%.
Even when compared with the state’s performance in 2017, the performance of class 10 students this time has gone down in all subjects except English.
In the survey, class 10 students said that 97% of them like to go to school, while 69% said they use their mother tongue as the medium of instruction in the class, 74% children with special needs (CWSN) get facilities from schools, 92% could understand what teachers teach in the class, and 82% students get parental support for their educational achievement.
Talking about their experiences during the pandemic, 33% of class 10 students said that they did not have a digital device at home, 49% experienced worry, anxiety, and fear and 51% were happy being by themselves at home.
When it comes to the overall achievement score of class 8 students, the state’s average stood at 37.2% against 41.9% national average. Similarly, for class 5, the state’s overall achievement score was 38.6% against the national average of 49.0% and for class 3, the state’s score was 45.6% and the national average was 59.0%.
An official from the department of school education attributed the performance of the students to lack of monitoring or supervision during the pandemic. “Availability of teachers in classrooms, lack of monitoring are a couple of issues we need to address to improve the learning outcomes,”the official added.
