Learning poverty among the primary pupils: a case study of native (Telugu) and english medium schools of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Learning poverty is one of the major issue lasting for many decades in India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular. According to the World Bank in collaboration with UNESCO, learning poverty is an inability in reading and comprehending or understanding a simple story or paragraph in the respective languages. It is applicable to both disciplines i.e. either in humanities as well as in mathematics and sciences. This inability is found especially among the students aged between 5-10 (at the end of the primary school). In the present paper, it is highlighted that what are the driving forces for this learning poverty, what remedies can be taken into consideration to curb the learning poverty. In addition, the paper also intends to see whether the learning poverty exists in native (Telugu) medium school children or English medium school children. Is learning poverty confined to age groups between 5-10 or is it also found between the ages 10-15. Finally, the paper draws the conclusions based on the data and its results.