Learning curve poor in Telangana

Hyderabad: Despite thousands of crores of funding for school education by the state and the Central governments, learning still remains dismal, a new survey report has found.

Only about a third of Class V students in rural Telangana schools can do divisions while less than half of Class VIII students can do it. Of all students in the state from Classes I to VIII, only about 21 per cent can do divisions. In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, students’ Arithmetic and English reading is slightly better with 27 per cent of all students being able to do divisions.

The figures in the Annual School Education Report (ASER) 2014 paint a dismal picture across the two states and the country as a whole. Recent surveys by the Telangana government had also found similar levels of learning among students.

Experts point out that the Right to Education (RTE) legislation, which the previous government had boasted about, only provides a student with the right to attend school but not learn. Interestingly, enrollment in private schools in Telangana is almost 40 per cent while in Andhra Pradesh it is 33 per cent among the age group of 7 to 16 years.