CHENNAI: In an interesting observation which breaks the popular perception
among parents, a study of Plus-2 and SSLC results revealed that boys from co-ed schools performing better than boys from single-sex schools. Report Bee, a data analytics company, did a detailed analysis comparing the 2015 Plus Two and SSLC results in co-ed and single sex schools.
“Of 32 districts in Tamil Nadu, students from co-ed schools scored better than those from boys only schools in 25 districts. But in seven districts students from boys only schools performed better.These seven districts including Kanyakumari, Namakkal and Nagapattinam known as literacy districts and they will perform better in any condition,” said Jayashree Gopalakrishnan, data scientist from Report Bee. “But there is no significant difference between students from girls only schools and those from co-ed schools,” she said.
In 2015, among the 6,258 schools that appeared for the plus two board exams, the pass percentage of boys only schools is 59.8 and that of girls only schools is 66.2. But in a case of the co-ed schools, the pass percentage of boys and girls increases to 63.6 and 66.8 respectively.
“In class 12, we found that boys in co-ed schools on an average score 5.3 per cent more than their counterparts in boys-only schools. In a detailed analysis on each of the revenue districts, we observed a maximum average difference of 13.5 per cent in Perambalur district,” she added.
The situation is the same when all co-ed schools and boys only schools compared in state level. She also said that in class 10, the boys in almost all the revenue districts in Tamil Nadu perform better in co-ed schools. Except Virudhunagar, all other districts show a higher performance in average marks scored by the boys studying in co-ed school.
“Peer pressure, discipline can be the reasons for difference in the performance of the students. Generally, in co-ed schools boys tend to behave well,” Jayashree said. “When it comes to marks, co-ed or not doesn’t make any significant difference and how we tune the children is more important,” said Dr
B.S. Virudhagirinathan, clinical neuropsychologist. “Even in many co-ed schools boys are not allowed to interact freely with the girls,” he said. K. John, headmaster, Thiru.Vi.Ka higher secondary school said, “Most of the co-ed schools are private schools. Boys only schools are government schools. You cannot compare the government schools with private schools as we admit all kind of students.”
