New Delhi: A survey conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in 2006, has revealed that the learning ability of students of class III and VII in Government schools, especially SC/ST, OBC and girl students has shown a remarkable progress since 2004.

A total of 49,521 students from 4 states and UTs were covered in the survey.

Students' ability was checked in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, problems based on money and time, fraction and geometry and measurement in the survey.

Students were also examined for vocabulary, numbers, gender, tenses, prepositions and compositions.

According to sources, the remarkable improvement is a result of the specific reading and mathematics programme which is being conducted for primary and upper primary classes in 18 states across the country.

As compared to the last survey, students from rural areas showed an improvement from 58.14 pc to 61 pc in Mathematics. However, students from urban areas barely improved from 58.52 pc to 59 pc.

60 pc of girls successfully cleared the Mathematics exam.

As for SC/ST students, 60 pc girls and 59 pc boys passed the mathematics exam.

A decline has been noticed in the mathematical ability of students from Gujarat, Karnataka, and Delhi as compared to those from Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu where students have improved.

The learning ability of students was checked in four subjects- Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Language in 12 states.

39.17 pc of girls were able to solve problems in arithmetic, geometry, mensuration, algebra and statistics. Only 38.35 pc boys could solve similar problems.