National survey of students soon: What is it, how it has changed from previous years

The NCERT has been conducting these national-level surveys to capture learning, every three years from 2001 onwards, with students of Classes 3, 5 and 8 being involved in the assessment. In 2014-15, Class 10 students were involved for the first time. The 2017 and 2021 assessments were also done for Class 3, 5, 8 and 10.

The survey provides report cards at the national level, the state level and the district level. In 2021, at the national level, it gave the average performance of students in terms of a score out of 500 in each subject. The state report card, prepared for each state, provided the percentage of students in the state by ‘proficiency level’ in each subject. These proficiency levels are below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. It also provides this figure by gender, location (urban/rural), and social group (SC/ST/OBC/general). A similar report card is prepared for each district.

How is this year’s survey different from previous years?

In 2021, the survey was administered to 34,01,158 students in Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 across 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts.

Indrani Bhaduri, head and CEO, PARAKH, a standard-setting body under the NCERT, said that key difference this year is that the survey is being administered to students in Classes 3 (at the end of the foundational stage), 6 (at the end of the preparatory stage) and 9 (at the end of the middle stage). This, she said, is meant to align the survey with the National Education Policy 2020, and the structure it envisages. NEP identifies Class 1 and 2 as the foundational stage, Classes 3 to 5 as the preparatory stage, and Classes 6 to 8 as the middle stage. With this, class 10 has been left out of this year’s assessment.

Students in Classes 3 and 6 will be evaluated in language, mathematics, and The World Around Us (concepts of science, social science, and environmental education). Students in Class 9 will be evaluated in language, mathematics, science and social science. The competency-based assessment and the data it provides is meant to help “shape educational policies.”

In 2021, Class 3 and 5 students took the survey in language, mathematics and environmental studies. Class 8 and class 10 students took the survey in language, mathematics, science and social science.

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) was set up in 2023 as the National Assessment Centre, with one of its mandates being to organise these achievement surveys. The survey’s name has seen a change from NAS, to incorporate PARAKH in the title this year.

This year, a total of 75,565 schools and 22,94,377 students will participate across 782 districts.

What did NAS 2021 find?

The 2021 survey was conducted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and captured a drop in achievement levels from 2017. In Class 3, for instance, all states and UTs saw an overall score that was less than the national average recorded in 2017. In Class 5, only Punjab and Rajasthan had overall scores that were above the 2017 national average.