Effectiveness of newspaper in education (NIE) program on the student performance

Abstract

Newspapers have been the most important tool in shaping the growth and development of any society in the modern world.The newspaper industry of any country for that matter spreads knowledge and awareness amongst the people by propagating itself as a medium for a wide area of topics such as politics, sports, social issues, medicine, entertainment, advertising and marketing, and more recently in education as “Newspaper in Education (NIE)”. This study presents the effectiveness of Newspaper in Education (NIE) program and the impact on student performance with special reference to schools in Karnataka. 15 schools have been selected for the study comprising sample with students of Middle school (6,7) and High school (8, 9 and 10). NIE programs of three leading newspapers viz. The Hindu, The Times of India and Deccan Herald have been considered for the survey. A questionnaire containing 20 questions on the NIE content, delivery method, perceptions about NIE, academic performance and the areas of improvement was administered among the sample containing 200 students of Middle school and High School. Survey results were subjected to statistical analysis. Survey results indicated that two of the newspapers viz. Deccan Herald and The Times of India have similar NIE content and the delivery model, while, The Hindu has different delivery model. Analysis of responses to questions based on perceptions and the academic performance indicated that there is a significant increase in the general knowledge and skills in middle school students than the High school students after the introduction of NIE in schools. Areas of improvements in terms of NIE content and delivery method is discussed in this paper. This is the first report on effectiveness of NIE program on student performance from India.