A Dismal Story of Academic Performance of Primary Students in West Bengal, India

Abstract

This study is an attempt to look at the academic achievement in three core subjects, such as First Language, English and Arithmetic, of the primary school students studying in classes II and III in External Evaluation and Diagnostic Achievement Test in West Bengal, India. We try to provide an insight into the group disparity in academic achievement of the students in the three subjects through classifying the sample by caste, gender and sector. Besides, we also employ the logistic model of regression to assess likelihood of success of different groups in the minimum level of learning of these three subjects in the said examinations. The study found considerable disparity in academic skills among social groups, males and females and rural and urban students. Performance of the students was quite poor in Arithmetic compared to First Language and English. Findings of this study will enable the policy makers to design appropriate policies, which will enable the society to achieve better performance in education in future.