Schools are setting up a mathematics laboratory to help students overcome their phobia of the subject and make it more interesting.

The laboratory is a novel concept, which enables students to learn and explore mathematical concepts and verify facts and theorems using tools such as the Geometers sketchpad.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has directed that 20 per cent of the marks will be allocated to each student from Lab Assessments to be added to final marks, L Balasubramanian, president of School Learning Solutions at NIIT [Get Quote], said.

"The demand for the math lab is such that many non-CBSE board schools like Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan in Kolkata, which is affiliated to West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, have set up math labs in their schools," Balasubramanian said.

The maths lab helps students to understand, internalize, discover and verify the basic mathematical and geometrical concepts through concrete objects and situations, thus building interest and confidence in students learning the subject, N K Sinha, a retired professor of Bose Institute in Kolkata, said.

The laboratory also encourages students to think and discuss among themselves as well as with the teacher thus helping assimilate concepts, Sinha said.

The lab also enables teachers to demonstrate, explain and reinforce abstract mathematical ideas by using concrete objects, models, charts, graphs, pictures and posters.

It costs Rs 8 lakh to set up a 32-seater maths lab and Rs 12 lakh to set up a 60-seater lab.