Location of School: Impact on Secondary Students’ Performance in Mathematics

Abstract

In the present day, the examination results of different school boards of India in general and West Bengal in particular are not much satisfactory in respect of performance in mathematics. It has been an observed fact that educational facilities provided in a school has to play a vital role in the performance of its students. The present study attempts to examine whether the performance of students in mathematics depends on the location of school where they study. Ex post facto research design has been employed in carrying out the study. The scores in mathematics of 1104 Madhyamik examinees from six secondary schools of Kolkata and outskirts served as the source of data and the sampling technique used was purposive. Results indicate that there exist significant differences between mathematics scores in Madhyamik Examination of students from Kolkata and outskirt schools. Students from Kolkata schools score better in mathematics than the students from the schools that are situated in the outskirts. The study, therefore, recommends that schools located in the outskirts should be provided with better infrastructure to help in better performance of their students in mathematics.