A Study of Children’s Language Abilities

The first objective of this research project was to study how the numbers of the children enroled in the schools run by PMC have changed over time. The second objective was to evaluate the level of understanding of the students in these schools. It was decided at the outset that the study would primarily focus on evaluating the language and mathematical (arithmetical) abilities of the students, rather than those in respect of all the subjects taught in the schools. Children’s abilities in these two subjects are, so to speak, the foundation of their overall educational abilities and performance. Therefore, these abilities were evaluated in a study conducted in accordance with the standard principles and methods of sample surveys. Out of these, the findings in respect of language abilities are presented in this chapter. The detailed explanation of the sample design and the sampling procedure for selection of the schools and the students in them, to whom the tests for assessing language and arithmetical abilities were to be administered, adopted for the present field study is given in Appendix C. Appendix C also reports the criteria followed for the selection of investigators, the training imparted to the selected investigators and the procedure laid down for the conduct of the tests, which were administered to the students.