Scared of Maths? It's a condition and here's what you should know about it

Did you have the chills before a Mathematics paper? Take this, you are not alone. Almost 89% of the students feel that way. A recent survey by Cuemath, India's beyond-school math learning program, found that children in school tend to face the highest amount of pressure to perform well in math over any other subject. 

The survey found that 89% of the parents believe Math is the toughest subject for their kids yet 81% of them expressed that their child’s performance in Math is of the most important to them. The survey considered a randomized set of over 1,000 parents across key metro cities to gauge their awareness of Math Anxiety in the wake of this rising yet ignored condition. To add to this, 77% of the parents surveyed believe that Math is not taught well in schools and 75% of them also look at after-school classes as a must today.

“The problem today is that Math is looked at as just a subject, not a life skill. Blackboard teaching and rote learning have created unnecessary hurdles for great Math learning. 79% of the parents surveyed said that their child shows high interest in solving math-based activities like puzzles and Rubik’s cube, a clear indication that an engaging and intuitive way of learning will generate much more interest and curiosity from the child,” said Manan Khurma, CEO & Founder, Cuemath.

73% of the parents surveyed also believe their child’s aversion to mathematics has increased over time, a possible sign of the development of Math Anxiety in children.

“Math anxiety stems from a lack of development of strong fundamentals in the subject and can result in the child not just underperforming in school but also developing issues like low self-confidence in the long run. To overcome this, early-stage math-skills development is crucial,” said Manan Khurma. “The recent move by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar to form a committee to tackle ‘Math phobia’ is thoughtful and progressive and I hope it brings in the necessary change to help children overcome this less-spoken of yet powerful issue,” he added.