Covid closure drags suburban Mumbai kids to bottom of learning scores

MUMBAI: Students from Suburban Mumbai appear to have been the worst affected by the pandemic among all the state's 36 districts, according to the National Achievement Survey (NAS) which assessed learning outcomes in classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 for a range of subjects.
Suburban Mumbai has ranked 35th for classes 3 and 5, just above Gadchiroli. The performance of Class 8 and 10 students in suburban schools places them right at the bottom of the chart.
Maharashtra's performance is a shade above the national average in languages and social sciences, and below in mathematics and science.
Private unaided schools in the suburbs fared better compared to government schools, where students may have been deprived of digital tools. In the city, central government schools, followed by private unaided schools showed better learning.
City schools performed better than the state in mathematics and science. Suburban schools found maths and science tougher than languages and social sciences. Across the city and suburbs, though, over 90% of students said they could understand what the teacher teaches.
The NAS conducted in November 2021 has helped gauge the impact of the disruption caused by the pandemic and the switch to online learning among state, government-aided, private unaided and Central government schools.
Students in city schools had better access to digital devices and internet connectivity, argued some principals. "Private and international schools are bound to do better than state and civic schools," said the principal of a Dadar school.
Mumbai city fares poorly compared to state in NAS
Students from Mumbai city overall fared poorly as compared to the state in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) which assessed learning outcomes in classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 for a range of subjects in November 2021. However in classes 3 and 10, Mumbai city district is at number three and four positions. In Class 5, learning outcome for the city drops to 17th rank and in Class 8, it is 11th. Subjects covered were language, mathematics, environmental science and social science.
Across Mumbai, 273 of the over 4,000 schools and 4,700 students were included in the survey. In the suburbs, 56% were government schools and 32% were private schools. In the city, 34% state and private schools were selected.
Some educationists questioned the findings. "All students, whether from the state, private and international schools, were asked the same questions. How can learning outcomes all be the same," asked the principal of a Cambridge school in the suburbs that participated in the survey.
Meanwhile, the survey data shows that some districts in the state have consistently performed better than the others in all four classes-3, 5, 8 and 10- that were assessed.
The study released on Wednesday also indicated that over 70% students in classes 8 and 10 and over 50% in classes 3 and 5 in the state could only perform at a basic or below basic level in different subjects in the assessment conducted on November 12, 2021. Students fared poorly in mathematics and science, especially those in classes 8 and 10, who performed worse than the national average.
On a heartening note, the results showed that Solapur, Sindhudurg, Satara, and Kolhapur are among the top four districts in most segments, putting up better performances. Vikas Garad, deputy director of Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training, said, "A strong culture of education, hardworking teachers, support from parents, and a robust District Institute of Education and Training that plans and executes educational programmes brought about these results."
In both classes 3 and 5, Solapur district has the highest score in the state. Solapur education officer Kiran Lohar, who was also the previous education officer in Kolhapur district, and the former divisional secretary of Konkan, said that the entire credit goes to their teachers. (With Ardhra Nair in Pune)