Countrywide survey reveals deficits in student learning

About PARAKH RS

• Full Form: Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development – Rashtriya Sarvekshan
• Formerly: National Achievement Survey (NAS)
• Conducted by: Ministry of Education, via PARAKH (under NCERT)
• Scope:
  • Assessed: 21.15 lakh students
  • Grades Covered: 3, 6, and 9
  • Subjects:
    • Grades 3, 6, 9: Language, Mathematics
    • Grades 3, 6: Environmental Studies (World Around Us)
    • Grade 9: Science, Social Science
  • Coverage: 74,229 schools across 781 districts
  • Teachers/Leaders surveyed: 2.7 lakh+

Relevance : GS 2(Education ,Governance)

Best Performing States/UTs (By Grade)

• Overall Consistent Performers: Punjab & Kerala (Top 3 in all grades)
• Kendriya Vidyalayas:
  • Weakest in Grade 3 mathematics
  • Strongest in Grade 9 language

Learning Outcomes: Key Findings by Grade

Grade 3

• Language:
  • 67% could use adequate vocabulary for daily interactions.
  • Most could infer meanings of new words from context.
• Mathematics:
  • 69% could recognize and extend patterns.
  • 68% could sort objects based on multiple attributes.
  • Only 55% could order numbers up to 99 correctly.

Grade 6

• Math:
  • Only 54% understood place value of large numbers.
  • Just 38% could solve real-life word problems involving arithmetic.
• Environmental Studies:
  • Only 38% asked predictive questions about natural patterns (phases of the moon, rituals, plant structures).

Grade 9

• Social Science:
  • 45% understood the Constitution’s evolution, and Indian national movement’s ideals.
• Language:
  • 54% could identify key points from reading/listening to news texts.
• Math:
  • Only 31% could engage with number sets (fractions, integers, rationals, reals) and their properties.

Critical Gaps & Interpretation

• Cognitive Depth Drops Sharply: Only 31% of Grade 9 students could grasp foundational number theory.
• Early Numeracy is Better than Later: 69% of Grade 3 students could extend patterns, vs. 38% of Grade 6 students solving puzzles.
• Problem-solving Weakness: Significant dip in applied mathematical reasoning from Grade 3 to 6.
• Text Comprehension Gaps: Even by Grade 9, only half the students show analytical reading skills.
• Civic Literacy: Less than half understand the democratic and civilisational roots of the Constitution.

Policy and Pedagogical Implications

•  Foundational Learning Progress: NEP 2020’s emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) seems to show early positive trends.
• Middle & Secondary Stage Lags: There’s a major drop-off in applied learning and conceptual reasoning from Grades 6–9.
• Pedagogical Rethink Needed: Performance shows over-reliance on rote learning, with low focus on prediction, exploration, and problem-solving.
• KVs Need Targeted Support in early math; despite national resources, performance lags in Grade 3.
• Data-Driven Interventions: States like Punjab and Kerala demonstrate how teacher quality, consistent assessment, and early interventions yield results.