Reading, maths skills have declined: Survey

NASHIK: An annual survey conducted by Pratham, an NGO working for education, has found that the reading and mathematics skills of primary school students in the Nashik division are at par with that of others in the state, though the percentage has declined since 2010.
The NGO informed about its findings to educationists in the city at a conference in Kusumagraj Pratisthan on Thursday afternoon.The Annual Status Education Report (ASER) by Pratham was a random survey in 2012 among rural students in the age group of 6-14 years.
According to the findings, the reading and mathematics skills of students all over the state have declined in the above-mentioned age-group. Another finding was that, among all divisions, the state the Nashik division has the maximum number of students enrolled in private schools.
As per the findings for Nashik division, the NGO said that compared to 2010, when the reading skills of students of class I and II were 95.95 per cent, it has now declined to 78.91 per cent. The mathematics skills among these students have been declined from 95.09 per cent in 2010 to 81.63 per cent.
Similarly, the reading skills of students from class III-V was 72.08 per cent in 2012 as compared to 90 per cent in 2010 and the mathematics skills was 40.60 per cent in 2012 as compared to 74.09 per cent in 2010.
The dropout rate in the age-group of 6-14 years in Nashik is 1.83 per cent.
The analysis of the report said in comparison to the other districts in the division, Nashik had the maximum number of students enrolling in private schools. The percentage of enrolment has risen from 24.5 in 2008 to 45.94 in 2012.
"We have shared our report with the state government. When we met the chief minister, he said he will consider the report," said Medha Kulkarni, consultant of Pratham.
When contacted, deputy director of education T N Supe said, "The NGO conducted a door-to-door survey. They would have got better reports if they conducted the survey in schools."