Vidyartha's Data Trends reveal practical considerations drive student subject choices in grade 11, 12 and not aptitude and interest

Vidyartha, an Ed-tech company and first of its kind data-driven learning guidance platform, today announced trends gleaned from its data of 5000 students across South India, in classes 8 to 12.

A key insight that the data reveals is that as students graduate to higher classes, 'subject and curiosity-based' preferences and capabilities, give way to practical considerations such as peer pressure, parental expectations, perception of future earning opportunities and career stability in their selection of subjects.

Another important cliche that the data topples is that higher critical thinking skills are not necessarily restricted to the toppers.

On a sample size of 5000, each in classes 8 to 12; only six percent students in Grade 8 showed interests in 'only' science related fields that required Physics, Chemistry and Biology, while 68 percent students showed interests in both science and non-science related areas.

As these students progressed to Grade 10, this data changes to a whopping 47 percent of the students showing interests in 'only' science related fields while 34 percent students showed interests in both science and non-science related areas.

Further, over 50 percent were keen on taking the PCMB (Physics, Chemistry, Math and Biology) or PCM (Physics, Chemistry, Math & alternate subject) group of subjects in Grade 11, despite 60 percent of these students having scored below average scores in the application based multiple choice questions (MCQs) assessments in Physics and Chemistry.

The data confirms that as students lean towards practical pressures to select their subjects, the gap between interests and capabilities becomes significantly palpable.

"As disconnect arises between interests and capabilities, gaps appear in learning, and students end up pursuing areas that do not leverage their inherent strengths", said Priya Mohan, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Vidyartha. "It is time to move away from pure "advise" and opinion based guidance to objective data based guidance on a continuous basis."

Further in their assessments, Vidyartha found that 40 percent of the students having above average to high scores in high critical thinking or problem solving skills on a relative ranking basis are considered only average performers in school.

"This is a clear indication that benchmarking student learning milestones on just report cards, will rob us of many possible insights. Importantly this insight suggests that the students who exhibit high critical thinking skills may need a different motivation and approach towards school education," said Priya.

"Our process at Vidyartha is to first understand the student profile, establish their purpose of learning, and then develop a personalized learning path in tune with their interests and learning needs, which the traditional one to many classroom may not often support. Vidyartha's platform, guidance program, individual counseling and all other features are focused on just one goal - how to improve a student's performance through personalization," said Navin Balan, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Vidyartha.

At the very core of Vidyartha's vision is the belief that children who understand their natural talents get a huge boost in confidence and develop very high interest in the career paths that are shown to them. Vidyartha today partners with over 3,000 schools and to-date has helped more than 250,000 students in developing their unique learning paths.