The Class III students of Tamil Nadu schools are abysmally poor in numerical ability tests, finds a recent study conducted by the National Council For Educational Research and Training (NCERT). According to the outcome, the students fared poorly in the language proficiency tests as well and, shockingly, in the Tamil language also.

The study found that 29 per cent of the Class III students could not complete basic numerical abilities, including number identification, multiplication, division, identifying patterns comprising numbers and shapes and identifying dates and months in calendars. This makes TN the most backward as far as the numerical ability of the students of Class III is concerned, as per a report by IANS.

Meanwhile, the language proficiency test was conducted by asking children to read out loud and by asking them questions from texts that were not in the school syllabus. The results revealed that 48 per cent of students did not have the basic knowledge or skills in Tamil, while 43 per cent did not know the basics of English.

The NCERT, in its report, said that only 46 per cent of the students were able to read 80-100 letters correctly and fluently in Tamil. On the other hand, only 47 per cent of the students could read 80 per cent of the words in English fluently.

The Foundational Learning Study, 2022, was conducted by the NCERT for the Nipun Bharat scheme under the Union Ministry of Education. It was undertaken for 2,937 Class III students from 336 schools in TN. The study was conducted in government schools, private schools and aided schools as well.

In terms of numerical ability, Tamil Nadu is followed by Jammu and Kashmir (28%), Assam (18%), Gujarat (18%) and Chhattisgarh (18%). The national average of the number of students who could not comprehend numerically was only 11%. The Gross Enrolment Ratio at the national level is only 27.1, while it is 51.4 for TN, as per IANS.