A government school teacher setting up a laboratory to help students overcome their fear of mathematics four years ago appears to have borne fruit in a Dakshina Kannada village school as all the 43 students who appeared for the mathematics paper in the recently held class 10 exam have passed.
The Government Kannada Medium High School at Nada village in Belthangady taluk had previously recorded cent per cent results in mathematics way back in 2002.
It was Yakub Koyyur, an assistant teacher in mathematics, who opened the laboratory in the school in February 2014. But it was effectively put to use one year later, from the 2015–16 academic year.
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It was the first such laboratory opened in a government school in the State. The objective was to make students having less-than-average learning ability score well and at least pass the mathematics paper.
When the first batch of class 10 students who used the laboratory wrote the exam in March 2015, the pass percentage in mathematics went up to 77.35 from 69.38 in 2014. It further rose to 95% in 2016 and witnessed a slight decrease — 94.59% — in 2017. The dream of the teacher to see all class 10 students pass in the subject was achieved this year.
Mr. Koyyur said many students end their education in class 10 for having failed in mathematics as they feel it is tough nut to crack. He, however, wanted to make the students first shed the fear about the necessary evil and pass the SSLC exam.
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Before setting up the laboratory, the pass percentage in mathematics in class 10 in the school varied between 62.6 and 86.76 during 2008–13.
All those students who passed in mathematics in class 10 this year had made use of the laboratory since they joined the school for class 8 in 2015–16. “The laboratory inspired the students to shed the fear and also provided a base to understand the concepts of mathematics. Three years of continuous exposure of students to the laboratory could be one of the reasons for all having passed this year,” Mr. Koyyur said. But the pass percentage also depended on the questions asked and the learning ability of students, he added.
In his bright and colourful ‘Maths World’ laboratory, all students from class 8 onwards get hands-on experience through models, audio-visual tools, and charts. The laboratory was opened with a partial government funding of ₹2.5 lakh and ₹13 lakh contributed by the school alumni.