The mathematical abilities of government school students in the State are far below the national average and much less than our neighbouring States like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and even a State like Jammu and Kashmir where the academic atmosphere is not conducive. The State figured with an average score of 238, while the national average was 251.

This was revealed in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) carried out by NCERT and conducted under the government’s flagship programme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). As a part of the survey, learning abilities of 5{+t}{+h}class students are monitored on a variety of parameters.

Andhra Pradesh figures among the nine States that are below the national average, while Uttar Pradesh with a score of 298 and Tamil Nadu with a score of 279 figure in the top two. The mathematical abilities of girl students from the State are slightly better than boys as per the survey but the girls score is also far below the national average among girls. Rural area students fared equally well with urban students when a comparison was drawn between them. The national scenario also is similar.

Among the social categories, students in the general category achieved significantly higher average scores than those in other categories. Students classified as being in the OBC category significantly outperformed those in the ST category. Students were tested in Knowing, Applying and Reasoning skills for their maths capabilities in recognising familiar concepts, solving non-complex problems and applying their abilities in solving real world problems. Katti Narsimha Reddy, general secretary of State Teachers Union (STU), attributes the low standards to multiple factors. Of the 220 working days teachers are in classrooms only for 115 days as they are used for non-teaching work.

Monitoring is almost absent and it reflects in 950 vacant Mandal Education Officer (MEO) positions out of the total of 1,137. Moreover, government schools function under 10 different managements with utter lack of coordination. “Teaching is bound to be affected,” he says. The report is based on data collected through questionnaires from 6,602 schools, 10,851 teachers and 1,17,653 students from 31 States and Union Territories of the country.

# The State figured with an average score of 238, while the national average was 251