United Kingdom MapLondon, Oct 23: Geography does not seem to be a favorite with school kids in Britain, as a new survey has found that on an average one in every five British students is unable to find even his/ her own country on world a map.
It was also found that one in every 10 British pupils could not name a single continent, and more than 20,000 children in London did not realize they live in England's capital city.
The study, carried out by National Geographic Kids magazine, questioned more than 1000 British six to 14-year-olds to mark its UK launch. It was found that boys have "slightly better geographical skills than girls", with 65 per cent being able to locate a number of countries around the world compared with 63 per cent of girls, reported the Daily Mail.
Less than two thirds of children (60 per cent) were able to locate the UK's closest ally, the U.S., and 86 per cent failed to identify Iraq, in spite of its dominance of the news agenda.
Reacting to the findings, education experts described it as "rather frightening", saying that schools must concentrate on the basics in geography lessons. The subject is a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for five to 14-year-olds.
The critics attributed the lack of basic geographical knowledge on secondary school lessons, which focused on green issues such as global warming rather than facts and figures.
Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said: "These results underline the need for education to concentrate on the essentials. How are children going to be able to get as much out of their life if they fail to have an understanding of the shape of the world?"
Environmentalist David Bellamy said: "People say the world is getting smaller but for children it's still an undiscovered place with many of them not being able to recognize their own country on a world map." (ANI)