You and I, in this mathematical world

 

Mathematics is useful in being able to make sense of the world around us. In its many forms—arithmetic (number sense), algebra (patterns and sets), geometry (spatial sense), measurement (measure and compare), data analysis and probability (organizing information)—it gives us tools to untangle the mess the world often creates.

Without a sense of mathematics, generations, of say the Nagas, would not have known cropping patterns, spacing, seasons, agricultural (or sun and moon) cycles, crop varieties, or weaving trends. So let us keep aside the myth that “Nagas are poor at math.” Perhaps the occurrence of poor performance in math could be correlated to problems in modern math teaching methodology.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER—facilitated by Pratham), 38.2% of children in Class 8, from among 10 districts of Nagaland, can subtract. 57% of these kids can divide numbers. Worse, a percentage of children from Classes 1 to 5 cannot even recognize numbers. Compare this to the nearly 50% children, who at the age of 3 (as of 2013), remain out of pre-school according to the study. As time goes by, the study suggests that more parents opt for private school education for their pupils. As most private schools are comparatively expensive (than government schools), parents who can afford this can also afford more out-of-school paid tuition classes for their wards. Despite this trend, students, between Classes 1 to 8, show a poor understanding of arithmetic, projects the ASER.

Expensive education, with increasingly better infrastructure and facilities, is not cracking the mathematical puzzle for children in Nagaland (though they show to help).

Mathematical anxiety is a common phenomenon the world over. Studies suggest that by kindergarten, “it is common for children to use counting in a more sophisticated manner by adding and subtracting numbers,” the basics of which are picked up at pre-school. As a high percentage of children remain out of pre-school in Nagaland, an organized way to think also through numbers, patterns, space or measurement evades them. As the child grows, math becomes more complicated and incomprehensible—combined with a competitive system of examinations, and propensity of teachers (and parents) towards punishment, failure and anxiety become entrenched in mathematical learning, producing obvious disability. There is a case here for laying a solid foundation for math to take root at a young age, and flower in the child’s mind in the future.

The statistics produced by the ASER needs a parallel correlation to the decreasing number of youth partaking in agricultural activities in Nagaland. The math that could be picked up through this informal schooling, a potent way to lay a foundation, is disappearing. The Right to Education that a child below the age of 14 has in India, thus, needs to gain a contextual depth. Whether it is about learning math, languages or the sciences, our foundation gains strength through the immediate spaces we interact with on a daily basis; governance needs to account for this to produce generations that can survive the world. And today, this world, for hoorah or alas, is mathematical.