NCERT: Teaching methods need drastic change for students to excel in Math and Science

A recent study conducted by NCERT has revealed that 55 per cent of students at Class 10 levels are unable to solve simple questions based on Mathematics and Applied Sciences in competitive exams.

“It shows that students are just learning everything by rote and reproducing them in examination papers. They are not applying logic while solving problems,” a senior official at the NCERT stated.

According to the report, students lack basic conceptual knowledge of the subjects. “Students could not even attempt basic formula-based questions in Science and Mathematics that we had prepared to test their competence. Our survey found that only 45 per cent students could answer a maximum of questions correctly in Science when basic questions related to acceleration and velocity were asked,” said NCERT official Y Sreekanth, who headed the survey. “Similarly for Mathematics, we picked up questions from Geometry and Mensuration, and the performance was equally bad,” he added. According to him, the best performance was in languages like Hindi, and other vernaculars where no logic was required.

The survey was conducted on a sample comprising 2,77,416 students in 7,216 schools across 33 States /Union Territories (UTs) and Boards. It is a part of the National Assessment Survey, which was done for Class 10 for the first time, and a detailed report recently released thereafter.

NCERT has concluded that there is a need to drastically change the way children at Class 10 level are being taught.