A new study finds major difference in region wise choice of academic streams in India with students in Southern states preferring science stream on top of all. The study by Government of India shows that students enrolled in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka education boards are more likely to choose the Science stream in their Class XI-XII.
The study also noted that Arts is the preferred option in West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Jharkhand. It shows that the trend is because of large number of institutions offering courses on engineering and medicine in the southern states
PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) is a new division under the NCERT. It analysis the study further. PARAKH is tasked with addressing differences in assessment, which results in disparities in scores of board exams, among various state boards and the CBSE.
WHICH STATES PREFER SCIENCE STREAM?
Students from Andhra Pradesh (75.63 per cent) topped the list followed by students from Telangana (64.59 per cent), Tamil Nadu (61.50 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (57.13per cent) and Kerala (44.50 per cent) in 2021-22 academic sessions. Among Northeast states, students in Manipur (68.87 per cent) opted for Science.
With respect to least takers of science, students from in West Bengal (13.42 per cent), Punjab (13.71 per cent, Haryana (15.63 per cent), Gujarat (18.33 per cent) and Jharkhand (22.91 per cent) figured in the chart.
WHERE IS ARTS PREFERRED?
Students from Gujarat (81.55 per cent), West Bengal (78.94 per cent), Punjab (72.89 per cent), Haryana (73.76 per cent, and Rajasthan (71.23 per cent) preferred Arts subjects the most. In the Northeast, Arts was the popular choice in Meghalaya (82.62), Tripura (85.12 per cent), and Nagaland (79.62 per cent).
COMMERCE STREAM?
In the study, the authors said that Commerce stream “has stagnated at the same level over the last one decade”. Around 14 per cent students (national average) pursuing the discipline in high school.
Though science stream is most preferred in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, students also chose commerce. here, it was higher than the national average.
