3.8m students to participate in National Achievement Survey

The Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct the test in the sampled schools in collaboration with the respective states and territories

Around 3.8 million students from 1, 23,000 schools in 733 districts across 36 states and Union territories will participate in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 on Friday. The survey, which assesses the competencies developed by the students at the grade levels of third, fifth, and eighth, is conducted every three years.

The NAS 2017 report released in 2018 highlighted issues including how learning levels for mathematics were progressively lower among government school students. (Shashidhar Byrappa)

The survey was last conducted in 2017 and was scheduled to take place in 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 situation, it was postponed until this year.

This is the first time when private schools have been included in the NAS for grades 3,5 and 8. Earlier, private schools were included for the class 10 NAS that is being conducted separately.

Officials said the survey will be very crucial to assess the impact of the pandemic on the learning levels among students. “(The survey) will help to assess the learning interruptions and new learnings during the COVID pandemic and help to take remedial measures,” the Union education ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. It added National Council of Educational Research and Training has done the instrument development, testing, finalisation of the test items, sampling of the schools, etc.

The Central Board of Secondary Education will conduct the test in the sampled schools in collaboration with the respective states and territories. “NAS 2021 will cover the entire spectrum of schools...”

For students of classes third and fifth, the NAS will cover language, mathematics, and environmental studies. For those in class eight, it will be include language, mathematics, science, and social science.

“The Test would be conducted in 22 mediums of instruction covering Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Mizo, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Garo, Khasi, Konkani, Nepali, Bhutia, and Lepcha,” the statement said.

The NAS 2017 report released in 2018 highlighted issues including how learning levels for mathematics were progressively lower among government school students as they progressed from class to class. The ministry later drafted some interventions based on the survey findings.

“This year the findings would be more crucial in the backdrop of the pandemic. It will help to formulate better strategies to bridge the learning gap among students and to address the issues faced by them,” an official said.

To ensure fair conduct of the survey, 1,82,488 field investigators, 1,23,729 observers, 733 district-level coordinators, and district nodal officers separately and 36 state nodal officers in each state and territory have been appointed. “Also, 1,500 board representatives have been appointed in the districts for monitoring overall functioning and ensuring fair conduct of the Survey. All the personnel have been provided extensive training regarding their roles and responsibilities,” the statement said.