The Hindu

• The tests aim at assessing general competence of school children
• Teachers attaching importance to textbooks

Mangalore, Jan 24: An average seventh standard student of a government or government-aided school may not be able to tell where the British East India Company first started its trading activities in India. Not many fifth standard students in these schools may know much about the Indus Valley Civilisation and fewer students in the same age group may be able to tell what latitude or longitude is.

These were some of the results thrown up after a survey in 2006-07 conducted by Karnataka Schools Quality Assessment Organisation (KSQAO) in 441 schools of Dakshina Kannada district. The annual survey is an attempt being made by the Government at assessing the quality of education imparted at primary and secondary schools.

As evaluators begin to compile the results of this year’s survey, the burden of dismal facts that the previous survey threw up, looms large. For instance, it was revealed in last year’s survey that 86 per cent of fifth graders could not answer simple questions after listening to a story in English. Their grasp of the language left a lot to be desired.

An official of District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) said: “A lot of English teaching actually happens in Kannada and that may be the reason why students are unable to understand English well.”

However, it is not as if the students are proficient in Kannada. While 79 per cent of fifth grade students could not describe a given event in English, 69 per cent of seventh grade students could not do so in Kannada either. Seventy-seven per cent of seventh graders did not have legible Kannada handwriting and 72 per cent had no clue of punctuation marks in Kannada.

Instead of evaluating the students with conventional testing system, the tests conducted by KSQAO aim at apprising the students based on non-bookish competence. Typically, the students are asked questions that require them to think, analyse, and apply their knowledge.

The evaluation is made in two parts. In the first part, the students are tested for their aptitude in core subjects. In the second part, they are tested for their extra-curricular skills. This part includes tests in dance and music. There are tests in the second part where the students are exposed to moral uprightness and patriotism.

However, the students have done well in the second part of the tests. When the children were asked to convert a negative feeling into positive, 82 per cent of them managed to do so with aplomb. It was indicative of their emotional and mental health.

Although many students scored in the 80s in the second part of tests, only 60 per cent of them were found to be creatively inclined in this section.

Block-wise results

In the block-wise survey, Puttur and Sullia appeared at the bottom of the list. When the total scores of tests were compiled, the students in Sullia  had secured 46.1 per cent and in Puttur 49 per cent. Moodbidri topped the list with 69 per cent.

K Rajalakshmi, district nodal officer, KSQAO, said: “Just because the surveys revealed some unflattering facts about students in the district it does not mean that they are bad in academics. The students here have traditionally done very well in their regular tests and examinations.”

The tests conducted by KSQAO are unconventional and do not test the students for the knowledge derived from their books and that is where some very different results began to appear. The problem that the results pointed at was that the teachers had been giving more importance to textbooks without paying due attention to the development of knowledge of students.

Based on the results of the past, the DIET is conducting year-long remedial classes.