Punjab to give NCERT’s state education achievement survey a miss

The school education dept says they are focused on conducting baseline tests under ‘Mission Samarth’ to identify the learning gaps of children of classes 3 to 8 in government schools

The Punjab government has decided to give a miss to the first State Education Achievement Survey-2023 (SEAS-2023) aimed at identifying areas requiring improvement in learning.

The state government communicated its stand at a meeting held two weeks ago by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on the first-of-its-kind survey, people aware of the decision said. (File)

The state authorities recently conveyed their inability to participate in the survey being coordinated by the national assessment regulator, Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH), on November 3 in states and union territories across the country to assess learning competencies of children at the end of the foundational, preparatory and middle stages of education. SEAS-2023 has been planned for 11 million students of classes 3, 6, and 9 in more than 4 lakh schools up to the block level across the country. The children will be assessed in language and mathematics.

The state government communicated its stand at a meeting held two weeks ago by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on the first-of-its-kind survey, people aware of the decision said.

One of them said the school education department was currently focused on its learning enhancement programme named ‘Mission Samarth’ to hold baseline tests to identify the learning gaps of children of classes 3 to 8 in government schools who are lagging behind and then use the study material specially developed by SCERT to help them achieve the required learning levels. “We informed them (NCERT) that preparations for ‘Mission Samarth’ were already at an advanced stage, and the state will, therefore, skip the upcoming State Education Achievement Survey,” said the official who did not want to be identified.

However, NCERT, under which the national assessment regulator functions, asked the state officials to reconsider their decision. A senior functionary of NCERT said the state authorities were requested to think again, but there has been no official response from them so far. “The survey will help assess where the children stand on different competencies defined in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and help the states carry out evidence-based and targeted interventions. It would also serve as a baseline for teacher training, textbook development, etc,” the functionary said. SEAS-2023, planned for 7,466 blocks across the country, will be a precursor to the Union ministry of education’s National Achievement Survey (NAS) conducted at the district level to assess the students’ learning levels. The next round of NAS is likely in 2024. Punjab had emerged as the top performer among states in the last National Achievement Survey held in November 2021.