The foundation collected data during academic year 2011-12 to analyze its library programme in these schools. Even though things have improved from the time the NGO stepped in with its reading programme five years ago, the numbers are still disheartening.
Sample this: Of the 5,417 students in class VII who were surveyed, 24 could not read anything, 79 could identify alphabets, 256 could read words, 1,170 read sentences, and 3,888 could follow paragraphs.
In class II, around 6% could read nothing, around 21% could read letters, and 28% managed to read words. Another 23% could read sentences and paragraphs. Even in class III, around 3% children were not able to read anything, while 10% could read letters; around 41% could read paragraphs.
The survey was conducted among 28,000 government schoolchildren in 378 primary schools. The NGO classified the data according to assembly and parliamentary constituencies.
"The curriculum of the first five years of primary schools is designed in a manner where the first two years are spent on learning to read..., while the latter three years are devoted to increasing comprehension," says foundation chairman Ashok Kamath.
"Ability to read age-appropriate material is essential for children to be proficient in any school subject, and indeed it is this lack of reading skills that may be one of the reasons for a high dropout rate in Indian schools. If the foundation... is weak it is almost certain that the child will start to comprehend less and less as the years go by, lag behind the class, and eventually drop out of the school system. Language competency is central to learning; an independent, fluent reading skill is essential for comprehension," he says.
A Devprakash, director, primary education, says: "The IQ levels of children are different. Some of them grasp quickly, while others are slow learners. Moreover, there might be regular absentees in
government schools. Thus, in a class of 30 or 40, it is common that 5% are not up to the mark. We are giving them extra coaching."
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