Indian schools dwarfed in global ratings programme

India may have notched up high enrolments to school riding the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Midday Meal scheme, but the quality of education being imparted has proved far below average in an international rating system for schools from 74 economies.

India's debut at the prestigious Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) saw some 16,000 15-year-olds from schools in Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu taking part. They ranked near the bottom in all categories, outscoring only Kyrgyzstan.

PISA, introduced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development (OCED), is an internationally standardised assessment that tests 15-year-olds in the domains of reading, mathematical science and science literacy. PISA 2009 was originally held with 64 economies, after which 10 more participated in PISA 2009+. The PISA report released last week includes the scores of all 74.

While schools of South Korea and Finland scored high as usual, China took the ratings by storm when debutant Shanghai schools topped the rankings.

With institutes of higher education in India having hardly made a mark in international assessments such as the Times QS rankings, the HRD Ministry had decided to participate in the PISA 2009+ hoping Indian schools would do well there.

The PISA report, however, points out that "the average reading literacy score for Himachal Pradesh-India was the lowest average reading score observed in PISA 2009 and PISA 2009+, along with that of Kyrgyzstan". It adds that " Himachal Pradesh-India's students were estimated to have an average score on the scientific literacy scale, which is below the means of all OECD countries. This was the lowest average science score observed in PISA 2009 and PISA 2009+, along with that of Kyrgyzstan".

Tamil Nadu, often lauded for its work in the education sector, has done only marginally better than Himachal Pradesh and ranks below the average OECD score on all counts. The report says, "Students in Tamil Nadu-India were estimated to have a mean score on the scientific literacy scale, which is below the means of all OECD countries, but significantly above the mean observed in the other Indian state, Himachal Pradesh...

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