Preuniversity science education in India: Insights and cross cultural comparison

Abstract

A large scale survey reveals that the performance of the Indian preuniversity students in internationally standardized physics tests is intermediate to the American and the Chinese but reveals a disturbing bimodality. Scientific reasoning skills, however, are similar to both. The bimodality in physics tests corresponds to two different educational experiences, one in which the school ties up with privately run coaching centers (which we term as the integrated mode) and the other (nonintegrated mode) which has no such arrangement. These two modes have an underlying economic connotation and pose equity concerns. The study draws attention to this problematic educational phenomenon, often called “shadow education,” widely prevalent in many countries including India and China.