Thaindian News

London, Sept.15 (ANI): Indian, other Asian and Black pupils have been found to be much brighter than white British children when competing in exams at the age of 16, a study has shown.

According to researchers at the University College London, this is the first time that students from ethnic backgrounds have outshone white British kids, and they have described this achievement as an ‘amazing success story’. The study, according to the Daily Mail, further says that white British pupils are struggling to keep ahead in class.

The study also found that league tables give teachers an incentive to focus on pupils on the borderline between D and C grades at GCSE, because the system rewards schools for ensuring pupils achieve at least five passes at grade C or above.

Competition between private and state schools raises attainment across the entire education system over the ‘very long term’, according to a huge study of examination results since 1900 in 29 countries.

‘School systems are more efficient if they are more competitive,’ said Harvard University’s Professor Martin West, who co-wrote the study.

Black and Asian pupils are more likely than white British pupils to form part of this borderline group, and may therefore benefit from greater attention.

For the study, published today in the Economic Journal, researchers analysed exam results for nearly 500,000 pupils.

They found that, at the ages of three and five, white British children outperformed their ethnic minority counterparts in tests of vocabulary and making patterns.

At seven, in English and maths tests, all ethnic minority groups with the exception of Chinese pupils were behind white British youngsters.

But by the end of compulsory schooling, when youngsters take GCSEs, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and black pupils from outside the Caribbean had caught up with their white British classmates, while Indian and Chinese pupils had overtaken them.

Only black Caribbean pupils remained slightly behind white British youngsters. (ANI)