Patna : Students in Bihar’s government schools are set to receive specialised speech training after an education department review revealed widespread pronunciation and vocabulary deficiencies. Officials found that many students struggle with clear pronunciation, making communication difficult. To address this, schools will introduce structured speaking exercises alongside traditional subjects.
The initiative will categorise students into three groups based on their speech abilities. Those with a strong voice, limited vocabulary, pronunciation difficulties, or shyness in speaking will receive targeted training. Pupils will be taught to articulate words clearly, speak at a normal pace, and use hand and eye movements to aid communication.
In addition to speech training, a renewed emphasis will be placed on mathematics. Schools have already dedicated the first two class periods to maths for the past two months. Concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and counting will be taught using real-life examples, such as dates of birth, village and city names, and food items.
To enhance language and numeracy skills, students will be given speaking opportunities in weekly and monthly school programs. This initiative comes in response to the Annual Status of Education Report, which found that 42.5% of class 1 students, 7.6% of class 5 students, and 1.9% of class 8 students cannot read.
Education officials noted that while students progress through grades, there is little assessment of their actual learning. Some pupils struggle to pronounce their names correctly, and many find it difficult to pass competitive exams for engineering and medical courses after completing school.
