Chennai: The state government has asked for a detailed report on why Class 10 students in the state performed below national level as per NCERT’s national achievement survey. DC had carried a detailed report on the survey results on Friday.
The report stated that Tamil Nadu students performed below the national level and lacked conceptual clarity and understanding of the subjects. It created ripples in educational circles and the government has asked for a report from school education department officials.
When asked about the poor performance of students, experts pointed out that various changes are needed in the examination system. Some officials in the department said teachers also are equally responsible for the poor performance and we need to utilise the services of the teachers to the optimum level.
“Instead of asking book back questions in the examination, we should ask syllabus-based questions,” says K. Devarajan, former director of government examinations. Syllabus based questions and open-ended questions alone will make the students think and answer from their own experience, he said. “We are also giving too many choices in our exams. Objective type questions should be changed and creative questions should be included. We also need to update our syllabus in schools periodically. The higher secondary syllabus in Tamil Nadu was introduced almost a decade ago,” he said.
Sami.Sathyamurthy, state president of Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Head Masters’ Association, said the policy of no detention up to class VIII is also one of the reasons for this poor performance. It does not make teachers work hard. There is a need for strict monitoring at the elementary level learning, he said.
I. Arul Aram, associate professor in the department of chemistry, Anna University, observed that state board students struggle initially in their undergraduation and after hard work, they slowly start to understand the concepts and apply the same.
“In schools, they are dumping down the knowledge on students. From memorised learning, we are moving towards skill-based learning in the university. Understanding the subject is not enough, we have to enable them to use what they learned in the classrooms,” he said.
