Hyderabad: Urging the need to address low learning levels in Telangana, the MV Foundation has written to chief minister Revanth Reddy to take corrective steps to address the issue. R Venkat Reddy, national convenor of the organisation said that findings of the Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (PARAKH), formerly known as National Achievement Survey, indicate that majority of students are struggling to grasp even foundational concepts.
“PARAKH survey was conducted in Telangana across 3286 schools of India and involved 77,985 students of Grades 3, 6 and 9. It helps understand how much (in per cent) students are good at core subjects like Mathematics, Social Science and Science 10,821 teachers and faculties also participated in the survey. The number of students who participated in the survey was – 23,655 for Grade 3, 24,330 for Grade 6, 30,479 for Grade 9. The data indicates that the majority of students are struggling to grasp even foundational concepts,” said Venkat Reddy.
According to him, the PARAKH survey found that as low as 53 percent of grade 3 students from schools in Telangana can comprehend their meaning. Similarly, it also found that only 62 per cent of grade 3 students can use enough words to carry out day-to-day interactions. Among students of grade 6, only 54 percent of students in Telangana can draw conclusions from the material they read, said Venkat Reddy.
“The percentage of students who knew simple number patterns such as odd numbers, even numbers, square numbers, cubes, powers of 2, powers of 10 and Virahanka-Fibonacci numbers was recorded at 46 per cent. Under the subject, “The World Around Us”, only 41 per cent of the students knew how to prepare for emergency situations like fire, burns, small injuries, unseasonal rains and fallen trees, based on the discussion with family and community,” said the MV Foundation convenor quoting the PARAKH survey.
As a measure to address these issues, Reddy asked the Telangana chief minister to hold an immediate state-level review of the PARAKH findings with district-wise and school-level analysis to identify specific learning gaps. “Strengthen Foundational Learning through urgent implementation of the NIPUN Bharat Mission with clear targets and timelines. Remedial Teaching Programs for students in government schools, especially those in Classes III to IX,” he added.
The MV Foundation also asked the Telangana CM to develop a Telangana specific learning improvement plan with year-wise goals aligned with national benchmarks. “Your commitment to education and equity is well recognized. We urge you to lead a Mission Mode Intervention to improve learning levels across the state and ensure that no child in Telangana is left behind,” said Venkat Reddy, adding that his organisation is willing to support the initiative.
