CHENNAI: Primary school children in Tamil Nadu are performing better than their counterparts in other States, said K Ramachandran, Professor at National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA). He was speaking at a State-level conference of the district and block-level education officers on education planning and administration at Anna University on Wednesday.
Quoting NCERT survey results, Ramachandran said primary level children were doing very well. Mean score of Class V students for 2015 of Tamil Nadu in language was 259 compared to the national average of 241. In mathematics also, the State scored 264, while the national average was 241. In environmental studies, students scored 267 while the all-India average was 244, he said.
But the performance sees a dip, as students reach higher classes. The mean scores of Class 10 students in English, Maths, Science and Social Science is found to be lower than the national average. For English, the mean score is 225, but overall national average is 250. For Maths, it is 226 and national average is 250 and for science it is 229 and national average is 250.
Meanwhile, school education Minister KA Sengottaiyan announced that smart cards will be shortly distributed to students of all government schools and there will be a sim card which will enable parents to track their children for their safety.
The minister further announced that 6,029 schools will get computer laboratories at a cost of `462 crore and 3,000 schools will have smart classrooms. “We are preparing students for competitive exams and preparing CDs with 50,000 questions. In 412 places, centres will be opened for extra coaching classes for students. In all district libraries, the government will initiate coaching for civil services examinations. All these will be set in a month,”he said.
Highlighting the problems in the education system, Ramachandran said children don’t learn because of faulty teaching techniques. “There is something wrong in the teaching methodology that is why children don’t learn properly. There is a learning crisis,” he said