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Showing posts from May, 2008

Learning barrier in classrooms

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Learning barrier in classrooms RITH BASU CLASS ACT: Participants of the study on learning disorder among schoolchildren. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya Characters like Ishan Awasthi of Taare Zameen Par are not difficult to find in city schools, a study by the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has revealed. Over 30 per cent of the 25 Class V students who took part in the study, conducted last year in association with St Mary’s Orphanage and Day School, had some sort of learning disorder. The performances of the students in a programme called Fast ForWord were monitored over three months. “Auditory or visual disorders, caused by both hemispheres of the brain not developing simultaneously, is a common deterrent to academic proficiency. The problem of every child with this disorder may not be as acute as Ishan’s, but it comes in the way of him doing well in class,” said D. Dutta Roy of ISI’s Psychology Research Unit. He stressed the importance of detecting these problems early. “We used