New Delhi: According to a survey report, 56 percent of third class students in Kerala cannot read or understand Malayalam properly.
The survey was jointly conducted by NCERT and the Union Ministry of Education as part of ‘Nipun Misha’, a central scheme to improve the quality of basic education. The survey was conducted on 1,061 students of 104 schools in the state.
According to the report, only 16 per cent of third class students in Kerala have above average proficiency in Malayalam. These people are able to read and understand the meaning of fifty one or more words in a minute without making mistakes. 28 percent students have near average proficiency. They can read and understand 28 to 50 words accurately in a minute.
The remaining 56 percent of students cannot read or understand properly. According to the report, 17 percent of these people are unable to understand the meaning and read more than ten words in a minute. These people have very little basic knowledge. Therefore, they are unable to successfully complete basic grade-level activities related to learning, the report noted. In the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, students also have low proficiency in the local language. 67 percent students in Assam could not perform well in Assamese. 61 per cent of Meghalaya students could not perform well in Khasi, 54 per cent of Manipur students could not perform well in Manipuri and 59 per cent of Goan students could not perform well in Konkini. 86,000 third class students from 10,000 schools in the country participated in the survey. This includes government schools, government-aided schools, private recognized and central government schools.