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Literacy and numeracy proficiency drop as students progress to higher classes: Govt survey
Developed by PARAKH, HPC is a holistic, 360-degree, multidimensional report that reflects the progress as well as the uniqueness of each learner.
New Delhi: A government survey report released Tuesday showed that proficiency of students in topics related to Mathematics and English dropped as they progressed from Class 3 to 6 and 9.
While 55% of Class 3 students could arrange numbers up to 99 in ascending and descending orders, 53% of them in Class 6 knew tables up to 10 and only 28% students in Class 9 could understand and apply the concept of percentages to solve problems.
In languages, 60% Class 3 students could read short stories and comprehend meaning, 58% of them in Class 6 could understand main ideas and draw conclusions and 54% students in Class 9 were able to identify main points and summarise the text.
Previously called the National Achievement Survey (NAS), the latest survey named PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 conducted by the Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH) under the aegis of the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education (MoE) in December 2024, tested 21,15,022 students from 74,229 schools across Classes 3, 6, and 9 in 781 districts, spanning 36 States and Union Territories.
The survey said 35,99,026 students of Class 3; 66,63,195 students of Class 6 and 98,52,801 students of Class 9 were assessed. PARAKH is India’s national assessment centre, set up in the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as an independent constituent unit in February 2023, to fulfil the basic objectives of setting norms, standards, guidelines and implement activities related to student assessment along with other tasks as mandated in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
A senior government official cited three reasons behind the drop in proficiency level students in numeracy and literacy as they progress to higher classes.
“First, students learning up to Class 3 benefit from school inputs reinforced by parental or sibling support at home. Second, as students advance in higher classes, subject content becomes more complex, while familial support often fails to increase proportionately, creating a learning gap. To address this, we are encouraging schools to value school experiences through tools like holistic progress cards (HPC) to strengthen community-school relationships, which enhances student learning outcomes. Third, after a certain level, scholastic achievement alone is not perceived as contributing to financial incentives by families and hence they do not give required attention towards their children's education. Hence, we suggested states and UTs to add skilling in the curriculum so that schooling is viewed as a contributor to the family’s financial dynamics,” the official told HT, requesting anonymity.
Developed by PARAKH, HPC is a holistic, 360-degree, multidimensional report that reflects the progress as well as the uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains.
Only Class 3 results are comparable across 2017, 2021, and 2024 as it is the sole Class common to the 2017, 2021 and 2024 assessments. The 2017 NAS included Classes 3,5 and 8, while 2021 covered Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10. The latest survey shows Class 3 students' learning levels have slightly improved since the Covid-19 pandemic but remain below pre-Covid benchmarks. They scored an average of 64% in language and 60% in mathematics, up from 62% and 57% in 2021, but below the 2017 scores of 66.7% and 63%, respectively.
“While the national average in 2024 lags slightly behind 2017 levels, many states and UTs surpass their own past performances with an all-time high in 2024, demonstrating strong recovery and successful learning interventions. These include Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,” said a ministry official.
In the survey, Class 3 students were assessed in both language and mathematics but Class 6 students were assessed in Language and Mathematics along with an additional subject, “The World Around Us" covering environment, society, natural resource use, and social norms. Nationally, students in Class 6 recorded the lowest average score of 46% in mathematics, while language averaged 57%, and 49% in The World Around Us scored 49 percent. In case of class 9, students were assessed in language, mathematics, science and social science. Language had the highest average score at 54%, Mathematics the lowest at 37%, while Science and Social Science both averaged 40%.
An average score represents the mean marks obtained by students in a given subject or test. For instance, in Class 3, the average score in language was 64%, meaning that, on average, students scored 64 out of a possible 100 marks.
Prof Indrani Bhaduri, CEO and head, PARAKH said, “The findings of the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan present encouraging evidence of the progress being made under the NIPUN Bharat Mission. At Class 3, the assessment reveals a measurable improvement in foundational literacy and numeracy skills across states. This positive trend signifies the growing effectiveness of targeted interventions, teacher training, and structured pedagogical support implemented under NIPUN Bharat. The data suggests that children are not only meeting grade level competencies more consistently, but also demonstrating greater conceptual understanding, which marks a significant step towards achieving foundational learning goals nationwide.”
NIPUN Bharat or National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy, was launched as part of NEP 2020 which aims to ensure universal foundational literacy and numeracy for children aged 3 to 9 by Class 3, by 2026–27.
According to Ministry of Education (MoE) officials, competencies where less than 50% of students were able to answer correctly indicating learning gaps. PARAKH has suggested various interventions to reduce learning gaps for different classes. Among them are – strengthening community engagement through active parent and local involvement, implementing an early warning system to support at-risk students, leverage technology to enhance digital learning, cultivate an inclusive culture valuing diversity, and commit to ongoing professional development for educators to foster innovative teaching strategies.
