Educational Equity in Numbers: Exploring Demographic and Economic Influences on School Numeracy for Students of ages 8-13 in Bengaluru, India

Numeracy skills are an especially prevalent issue in students of a low-income family background. This research took place in a school for students of a lower Socio-Economic Status(SES) in Bangalore, India. Students of grades 4-7 were surveyed on two different factors: demographic background and mathematical ability. For the demographic aspect, students were asked questions about their daily life and family. For numeracy, the government-assigned textbook was used as a basis for the questions. Due to the system of school in India, the survey was done at the beginning of the new academic year. Therefore, the students were assessed based on the material taught in their previous grade. Through this research, the aim was to see where the issue is in the numeracy of students in a lower SES. The data was collected through a google form with a translator, who was asking all the questions in Kannada. The students were not able to do simple mathematics, and their numeracy levels were very low. They were averaging around 4-5 on a 30-question test. This data shows that there is a need for an intervention because of the results obtained from the research.