In Tripura, 57% Class 3-8 students can’t read or solve basic arithmetic: Survey

The state government has claimed on several previous occasions that different national surveys showed a section of students from 3rd till 8th standard in Tripura can’t do simple addition, subtraction, division etc neither could they read out from their textbooks. “I am sure nobody is happy with this state of affairs of education. But it doesn’t mean that teachers alone are to be blamed. Our government is committed to develop academic system in the state by changing this situation,” Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath previously said. He also claimed erstwhile Left Front government’s faulty policies were responsible for poor education level in schools.

Tripura school education scenario

Tripura currently has 4,398 government and government-aided schools apart from 335 private schools. Nearly 5 lakh students study in these schools across the state. A recent report has found that state govt spends Rs 21,138 for educating every student in a year in the primary level and Rs 7,600 for every student in the elementary level.

What is Notun Disha?

In an effort to assess true educational status of students studying in different schools of the state, Tripura’s ruling BJP-IPFT announced ‘Notun Disha’ (new direction) aimed to best equip students from 3rd to 8th standard, in February this year. It involved an educational assessment on each student between February 25 and 28 this year.

What is the outcome of the survey?

Speaking to reporters after joining a one day recapitulation and orientation seminar of Key Resource Persons (KRPs) on Post Baseline Survey Intervention under Notun Disha scheme on Tuesday, Tripura education minister Ratan Lal Nath said his government has laid highest focus on developing education sector. He also said that statewide survey conducted under the ‘Notun Disha’ scheme revealed that 57 per cent students studying between class 3-8 are unable to read words, sentences or even solve basic arithmetic like addition or deductions. About 3.16 lakh students were surveyed under the scheme. Among them, 1.80 lakh ‘weak’ students were identified and a separate database was prepared on them for providing supplementary coaching.

What will be the next step?

After assessing the students’ status, the state government has now selected Key Resource Persons (KRP) to handle post baseline survey operations to provide supplementary coaching to the ‘weak’ students. These resource persons will be mandated with a job to make sure school education in Tripura matches national education scenario. A school-wise management data is being created to keep track of all students’ progress. Teachers will be accountable if students aren’t well taught.

Who are the key resource persons?

As part of the Natun Disha scheme, 250 persons trained under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) were listed as Key Resource Persons. They would now, in turn, train 17,000 school teachers from different government schools of Tripura in the first phase. The training would continue in different latter phases as well.