Every year Australia's ACER, an NGO that is funded entirely by its own research activities (ACER head office is located in Melbourne, just a few minutes from my house) conducts an international study of literacy across the OECD countries. This study, widely known as the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), is perhaps the best comparative benchmark in the world of 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.

For the first time INDIA has entered the PISA system of evaluation. True, only two states were brave enough to do so.

I won't go into details of the results. Just two diagrams below explain everything. For more details read the ACER media release (and report).

I'd like to congratulate the governments of Himachal and Tamil Nadu for exposing themselves to the truth. If Bihar were to be included, we'd perhaps need to change the graph to represent negative levels of education.

This is ONE MORE PIECE OF EVIDENCE THAT INDIA IS FLOATING ON A PILE OF …. [you get to pick the missing word yourself based on your reading skills].

Note that CHINA IS AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD IN BOTH READING AND MATHEMATICS. This is consistent with comparative IQ scores which rate the Chinese as the most intelligent in the world, and average Indians as close to "morons" (IQ of 85).

In BFN I've argued that it our socialist policy has aggravated (if not created) this situation. While this might not be the entire truth (a good friend has blamed the caste system), it is clear that if India has to come even close to world average on education (and IQ), it must be liberated urgently, and the education system privatised as I've explained in BFN.

Let me repeat my mantra again. INDIA HAS NO OTHER HOPE BUT FTI. The only problem: it takes good education to understand the value of liberty. 

Reading comparison across the world: The winner from the bottom is …. INDIA! 

(click for much bigger image)

Mathematics comparison across the world. The winner from the bottom is … INDIA!

(click for bigger image)

Addendum

Half of Class 5 kids can’t read Class 2 texts