Govt initiative: Experts to assess science, maths challenges of class 9-10 students in U.P.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative sponsored by the state government, a team of experts will now undertake an in-depth study to find out the difficulties being faced by students of class 9 and 10 enrolled in secondary schools affiliated to UP Board and studying science and mathematics.

Director general, school education, Kanchan Verma has entrusted this responsibility to Prayagraj-based State Institute of Science Education (SISE) to be undertaken in the 2024-25 academic session, say officials of secondary education department aware of the move.

Under the exercise, the experts of the institute will identify the problems and prepare an action plan to resolve them after undertaking the study in selected secondary schools of the state. Such a study will be conducted by the institute for the first time in the state, officials said.

“We have been entrusted with the responsibility to study and resolve the problems being faced by students of class 9 and 10 in mathematics and science subjects. Soon a team of experts will be formed for this and the study will be conducted by it,” said Anil Bhushan Chaturvedi, director, State Institute of Science Education, U.P., while confirming the development.

According to experts, the books of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have been implemented in UP Board schools, but there has been no discussion on the kind of resulting difficulties the students are facing during studies.

Many students shy away from speaking about the difficulties in the classroom. This study is aimed at identifying these challenges, resolving them and in turn improving the performance of UP Board students in competitive examinations as well, officials explain.

Experts of the State Institute of Science Education, U.P., had prepared an exemplar (question bank) of science and mathematics for the first time in the 2023-24 session to enable students of classes 9 and 10 to better prepare for competitive examinations like engineering, medical entrance exams etc.

There is a compilation of about 840 questions in the science question catalog of class 9 and around 910 questions of class 10.

Also, there is a compilation of around 912 questions in the class 9 mathematics question catalog and 1,064 questions of class 10 Math’s catalog.