Project to improve the three Rs of pupils in 3,500 primary schools

The State Council of Education & Research Training (SCERT) has decided to start a pilot project in 3,500 primary schools of zilla parishads, municipal corporations and municipal councils across the state to improve the students’ skills in reading, writing, languages and mathematics. 

The reason behind the project is that the SCERT has taken serious cognisance of its own findings and a report submitted by Pratham, an NGO in the field of education, that 30 per cent of students at primary schools in the state cannot read, write and have poor performance in languages and mathematics.

As per the project, the SCERT, along with Pratham, will analyse the understanding level of subjects of students from Std II to V through tests. The students will be given training designed by the SCERT and then assessed again to check their improvement. “The decision of implementing this pilot project in selected 3,500 schools in the state was taken after we came to know through our own and Pratham’s findings that the majority of students cannot read, write and have issues in subjects like English and mathematics,” said NK Jarag, director of SCERT.

He said the percentage of students finding difficulty in writing, reading and coping with subjects like English and mathematics varies from 5 to 30 per cent as per the region, background and understanding level of each student.

“We would like to bring such students in the mainstream so that they can compete with others and will not find any difficulties compared to the students who are good in studies,” he said.

He said that as per the Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009, the school has to complete the syllabus in the given time and by doing so, the school has to gauge the learning ability of the student. If any student is finding difficulties, extra guidance should be given to him to bring him at par with other students.

“We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Pratham to implement this project in the selected schools in the state and will try to improve the reading, writing and mathematical skills of the students,” he added.

Training of officials takes off

To execute the programme in these school, on Saturday, a training of education officers, DIET principals and Block Education Officers was conducted. They will now go to the district levels and impart the same training to the teachers on how to conduct the tests, how to evaluate the students and how to give feedback.