TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: Being fearful of maths and scoring less in the subject during school exams is a common complaint among school kids and their parents. This widely spread fear of mathematics is heavily based on the existing approach to maths teaching at the school level, which makes it quite a boring subject. To tackle this problem, the controller of exams, CBSE, Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj has suggested an overhaul in the approach of the subject’s teachers.
As India Maths Day was celebrated recently, Dr Bhardwaj, one of the speakers at the event awarding the winners of the quiz, said, “Good teachers with their right aptitude and attitude can play a big role in alleviating the fear of maths as a subject among school children. We are therefore working on capacity building for maths teachers towards helping them inculcate the aptitude and interest for the subject, and this is where new-age software or apps like Countingwell can also play a supporting role.”
The event was funded by the maths learning app, Countingwell. In some recent changes, said Bhardwaj, CBSE has divided its maths teaching into two levels, Basic and Standard, making it optional for students to opt-out of the subject after finishing Basic maths. He added, “Of the 23 lakh candidates who had taken maths for their Class X examinations last year, 40% had opted for basic maths. Even for 13 lakh Class XII students, over 7 lakh took basic maths.”
The main goal should be to make the children as ‘independent learners and good decision-makers’, said Anita Sharma, the Principal of SD Public School and the member of NCERT General Council. She added, “Our New Educational Policy lays emphasis on enhancing mathematical thinking at the foundational stage amongst the children.”
About the self-learning app Counting well Anita commented, “[Self-learning] apps like Countingwell prepares the children to be self-motivated, become good observers and start taking independent decisions while helping them take away their fear around the subject.”
Countingwell had celebrated India Maths Day in December to commemorate the birthday of the great Indian mathematician S Ramanujan.
Countingwell had also set up an all Indian mathematics quiz on India Maths Day. More than 10,000 students from classes 6-10 took part in the quiz. Almost 150 schools from across 1,150 cities and towns took part in the quiz. Dr Bhardwaj awarded the 41 winners of the quiz with prizes yesterday in the event.
The objective of the India Maths Day quiz, according to the co-founder of Countingwell, Nirmal Shah, is to popularise maths among students and create a passion for the subject, so that they become capable of analytical thinking. Regarding the enthusiastic response the event received, Shah said, “We are exhilarated at the tremendous response we received for the competition and thank every participant, school and student. Congratulations to all the winners and participants and their teachers.”