New Delhi, Jan. 5: Madhya Pradesh appears to have learnt from its failures in the area of children’s education.

An annual report on the status of education brought out by Pratham, a non-government organisation, says the state has made a “quantum leap”.

“In terms of gains in children’s learning, Madhya Pradesh is the outstanding state of the year,” says the report, released here today.

The state has made remarkable progress in basic reading and arithmetic levels. “This brings up Madhya Pradesh from being one of the lowest-achieving states in 2005 to being just a step behind Kerala and Bengal in 2006.”

In its first report last year, Pratham had expressed concern over the low levels of learning among children in several states. Madhya Pradesh was one of them.

This year’s report shows the state gaining 20-30 percentage points in reading and arithmetic for standards I and II. Findings for Classes III to V are also encouraging. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are still laggards.

One of the reasons for Madhya Pradesh’s success is its special focus on teachers and innovative programmes to improve the children’s learning skills. Teachers in 45 districts of the state carried out Learning to Read, a special programme, with help from Pratham.

Madhav Chavan of Pratham says the results are “unbelievable”. “Its success proves that the very teachers and officers who are maligned and blamed can perform given the right focus, responsibility and leadership.”

The report stresses the importance of providing kids good reading material beyond the compulsory textbooks.

“A reading period in every class and good graded reading material in each school library is all that is really needed to improve fluency in reading. Mere provision of textbooks is not enough,” says the report.

Mothers’ education helps too, especially in raising enrolment, cutting dropout rates and reducing gender bias. “Involving mothers, even illiterate ones, is important,” the report says, suggesting that mothers learn with their children. “There is a need to integrate listless adult literacy programmes with quality improvement in schools.”

To improve learning, Pratham has started a volunteer-based programme in which bal sakhis (women volunteers) spend two hours with the weakest children after classes.