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Four out of ten students in rural areas scored below 5 (Romania has 10-point grading scale, with 1 the lowest and 10 the highest grade - ed.n.) in the national evaluation examination (end of the 8th grade), and their number has increased by 10% compared to last year, according to a press release sent by World Vision Romania to AGERPRES on Thursday.
At the same time, the number of grades below 7 is twice as high among rural students compared to their urban peers, World Vision Romania representatives said.
In their opinion, the figures show that the phenomenon of lack of access to quality education in rural areas has worsened.
There are also differences between urban and rural pupils in terms of grades between 5 and 6. A percentage of 4.9 percent of urban pupils had averages between 5 and 5.49 in the national evaluation examination, while the number of children from villages who obtained these results is almost double. A percentage of 8.6% of rural pupils scored between 5 and 5.49 in this exam session. Differences are also recorded for averages between 5.5 and 6. Thus, 5.6% of pupils in the urban areas obtained these results, while the percentage of children in the rural areas exceeded 8 percent.
World Vision Romania data, collected from the most vulnerable communities in the rural areas where the foundation operates, show that there are several reasons why these children lag behind their urban peers.
Thus, a quarter of children (24%) are not helped by anyone with their homework, 14% of parents of secondary school students say they do nothing if their children do not do well with their homework, 47% of teenagers say they only sometimes or never like school.
Moreover, almost a third of teachers say that the percentage of pupils with learning difficulties ranges between a quarter and a half of the total class, and 67% of parents think that teachers use attractive teaching methods.
More than a third (35%) of village teenagers mention that they never or only sometimes have enough school supplies and books.
More than three quarters (78%) of 8th grade village children in the World Vision's "I want to be in the 9th grade" programme scored above 5 in this session of the national evaluation examination. Of the 100 graduates, 21 scholarship holders scored above 9, with some candidates scoring 10 in both tests.
More than 32,000 young people who were enrolled in the 12th grade this school year did not sign up to take the Baccalaureate exam. Ubnder the "I want to be in 9th grade" programme, the enrollment rate for the Baccalaureate exam is 93%.
