Rural students rout urban counterparts in survey

Nagpur: School students in rural parts of Nagpur district have broken the myth that quality of education in urban areas is better.
The results of the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017, conducted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) at randomly selected schools, have shown that students in rural parts of Nagpur district are better prepared than their urban counterparts. (SEE TABLE). Only government and government-aided schools were part of this survey.

In Nagpur district, the only time urban school students could manage to claim victory was in the Math tests conducted for Std V students. In all other subjects and for all classes, rural students had a clear upper hand.

Shivling Patve, district education officer (secondary), said, “There are various reasons for rural students performing better and maybe it can be used as a benchmark for everyone. In rural areas, there is a clearly visible personal attachment between students and teachers. The latter take interest in all aspects of the students’ performance and try to initiate corrective measures.”

He added that all stakeholders there work as a unit which is what the NAS results are reflecting. “Parents, schools and the members of society all pool in their resources whenever needed for the benefit of children. It’s a very rural-specific thing and that is why it results in improved academic results,” said Patve.

NAS was conducted throughout the country on November 13 last year for Std III, V and VIII in government and government-aided schools. The survey tools used multiple test booklets with 45 questions in Std III and V and 60 questions in Std VIII in Mathematics, Language, Environmental Sciences, Sciences and Social Sciences. The competency-based test questions reflected the learning outcomes which were recently incorporated in the central rules for RTE Act by the central government.

Along with the test items, questionnaires pertaining to students, teachers and schools were also used. It gives a national and state-level picture, rather than scores for individual students, schools or districts.

The purpose of these assessments is to obtain an overall picture of what students in specific classes know and can do, and to use these findings to identify gaps and diagnose areas that need improvement.