Maharashtra ranks eighth in NAS; Kolhapur leads, Mumbai Suburban trails

The NAS 2024 survey, held on December 4 by the NCERT, assessed the learning outcomes of students in Classes 3, 6, and 9 across the country

Mumbai: Maharashtra has secured the eighth position in the recently released National Achievement Survey (NAS) conducted under the PARAKH initiative of the National Education Policy 2020. While the state’s overall performance remains above the national average in most subjects, it shows contrasting results within districts Kolhapur has emerged as the top-performing district across all parameters, whereas Mumbai Suburban ranks among the lowest performing districts.

Maharashtra ranks eighth in NAS; Kolhapur leads, Mumbai Suburban trails

The NAS 2024 survey, held on December 4 by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), assessed the learning outcomes of students in Classes 3, 6, and 9 across the country. In Maharashtra, the survey covered 4,314 schools, 13,930 teachers, and 1,23,659 students.

Kolhapur outperformed all other districts in the state and also performed impressively at the national level 26th in Class 3, 10th in Class 6, and 14th in Class 9. Mumbai city recorded mid-range results, securing the 45th position in Class 6 and 50th in Class 9 nationally. Mumbai Suburban, however, fell in the low-performing category in all three classes surveyed.

The survey highlighted several encouraging trends. Girls in Maharashtra are performing better than the national average, especially in languages and social sciences. Similarly, students from rural areas particularly in Kolhapur, Satara, and Ratnagiri have achieved results well above the national average. These students outperformed their urban counterparts in several parameters, defying long-standing assumptions about access and quality.

Students in government schools, too, have done better than expected. State government schools recorded scores that were 8% higher than the national average in language and 7% higher in mathematics. Government-aided schools followed closely with 6% higher scores in both subjects. Even private and central government schools reported performance above the national average, albeit with a narrower margin 3% to 2% higher.

An SCERT official stated that the state education department will thoroughly review the findings and seek recommendations from education experts to formulate district-wise and state-level academic improvement programmes.

Performance by social group

Socially disadvantaged groups have also shown notable gains. SC students scored 4% higher in language and 3% higher in mathematics compared to the national average. ST students fared even better, scoring 7% higher in language and 6% higher in mathematics. Among OBC students, scores were 7% higher in language and 5% in mathematics, while students from other social groups also performed 3% above average in both subjects.

Maharashtra’s performance by class

Class 3

The state average in language was 69%, 5% higher than the national average, and 64% in mathematics, 4% above the national figure. Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Satara, Solapur, and Jalgaon emerged as the top-performing districts. Latur, Gadchiroli, Mumbai Suburban, Nagpur, and Palghar fell in the bottom tier.

Class 6

In language, Maharashtra scored 62%, compared to the national average of 57%. The state average in mathematics was 51%, again slightly higher than the national figure of 46%. In environmental studies (”The World Around Us”), students in the state scored 55%, ahead of the national average of 49%. Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Satara, Mumbai, and Ratnagiri led in this category, while Wardha, Aurangabad, Gondia, Gadchiroli, and Raigad lagged behind.

Class 9

The state ranked 10th nationally in this class. Girls outperformed boys in language and social science subjects. A 2% increase in language performance was noted since the last NAS, but mathematics saw a 2% decline. Science performance improved by 3%. Kolhapur, Satara, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, and Mumbai topped the chart, while Mumbai Suburban, Akola, Nandurbar, Parbhani, and Gadchiroli remained at the bottom.

National Comparison

At the national level, Punjab topped the charts for Class 3 and 9, while Kerala led in Class 6. Maharashtra ranked sixth in Class 3, seventh in Class 6, and tenth in Class 9.

Across the board, Maharashtra continues to perform slightly above the national average in language and mathematics, but the dip in performance at the secondary level—particularly in mathematics—points to areas requiring policy attention.

As the state education department prepares to review these findings in depth, the focus will likely be on crafting targeted programmes to uplift low-performing districts and reinforce strengths in rural and government-run institutions.