Karnataka’s Performance in the NCERT Competency Test

Class 10 board exams are indeed a very crucial stage in every student’s life. Both students and parents are extremely stressed about it. Every parent wants their ward to perform the best in the board examinations. Recently, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducted the first-ever competency test. The test was organized in more than 610 districts in 34 states and union territories. NCERT had expected positive results of its initiative but all in vain. About 62% of the students of Karnataka have failed badly in giving out the desired results in mathematics and science.

Some other subjects also saw poor performance such as social science, English and Modern Indian Language too. Approximately, 55% of students could not answer correctly most of the questions asked from social science, 58% in English and 45% in the Modern Indian Language (MIL). The test contained a total of 60 questions from 5 subjects. Around one lakh two thousand and one fifty seven students took the test. These students were from 2,715 government, government-aided and private schools. On the contrary, a very small percentage of students performed exceptional. Just 2% could secure 76-100% score in mathematics, 1% secured 70-100% in science, 3% in English and 8% in MIL. This test was conducted on February 5, 2018. Almost about 66% students failed in mathematics and science respectively. Overall, in the state of Karnataka, girls as always over shined the boys’ performance in various subjects such as social science, science, English and MIL. About Forty-five per cent of girls gave correct answers in social science, 43% in English and 57% in MIL. The corresponding figures for boys were 34%, 42% and 54%. Boys and girls, however, had a tie in mathematics and science, with 38%. Further, NCERT has planned that the results of the test conducted will be used as inputs for planning and designing pedagogical interventions to improve learning outcomes at district, state and national levels. Learning outcome is the description of what a student should know after being put through a certain curriculum. In such a scenario, it is extremely important for the government to pay more attention towards the education sector, especially the government schools. Despite government initiatives in the field of education, hardly any improvement is visible at the ground level. It is high time that education is taken seriously in India because “Padhega India Tabhi to Badhega India”.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.deccanherald.com/state/state-students-fare-poorly-706836.html