AP and Telangana students poor in oral Telugu skills reveals NCERT study

About 55 per cent of Class III students in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are not up to the mark when it comes to reading Telugu words. This is one of the many disturbing revelations of a study conducted by the Central government and the NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training).

The study further found that around 24 per cent of the students were able to read up to eight words in a minute, while about 31 per cent of the students were able to read only up to 26 words a minute. And both categories of students are considered below average. Only nine per cent of students could read about 51 or more Telugu words per minute. The study concluded that the Class III students lacked basic knowledge and skills, and generally, could not complete the most basic grade-level tasks, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

The study was conducted as a part of the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Nyumberacv (NIPUN) Bharat, launched by the Ministry of Education, which is a large-scale Foundational Learning Study (FLS). It was undertaken by NCERT in March 2022. The second edition of the study was released recently which includes an assessment of students in 20 languages across the nation.

More about the study
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the study was carried out for approximately 1595 students, including both boys and girls, representing 49 per cent and 51 per cent respectively of the group. They were tested for their oral reading fluency with reading comprehension in Telugu.

The group consisted of students from 183 government (40%), government aided (39%), private (18%) and central government (3%) schools. About 48 per cent of students covered in the study belonged to Other Backward Classes (OBC), while 23 per cent belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC), 16 per cent were from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and 13 per cent of them were from other social groups, as per TNIE.

The study shows that the number of children who could not even read a single correct word in a minute is as high as 19 per cent, followed by 14 per cent of students who read about 21-25 and 26-30 words a minute. On average, boys could read 24 words and girls could read 25 words correctly per minute. Another test in which Telugu reading comprehension questions were asked to the students revealed that no boy or girl could answer more than three questions per minute.

The students were also tested for foundational numeracy skills. This test involved number identification and comparison, number operation, multiplication and division facts, measurement, fractions, patterns and data handling. According to the results, 11 per cent of the students in Telangana lacked this basic knowledge, whereas, 38 per cent had limited knowledge and skills.

About 40 per cent of the students from the state could meet the global minimum proficiency standards, which means that they could successfully complete the most basic grade-level tasks. However, only 11 per cent of the learners could complete complex-level tasks, as per TNIE.