Source: Press Information Bureau
What is NAS?
National Achievement Survey is a representative sample of schools from all districts in India aimed at understanding the health of the education system in government and government aided schools
Background
In order to increase focus on quality of elementary education, the Central rules to The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) Act, 2009 have been amended in February 2017 to include references on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes. The Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage (classes 1 to 8) have, accordingly, been finalized and shared with all States and UTs. Learning outcomes have been translated in different languages and serve as a benchmark for student’s capabilities to be achieved in each subject & class
Key features of the NAS-2017
- The present (2017) survey is linked to the learning outcomes.
- NAS at the elementary level was based on the Learning Outcomes developed by the NCERT.
- Under the NAS the learning gaps will be identified in all the districts of the country.
- Findings from the NAS will be used for formulating policies, planning and pedagogical interventions to improve student learning.
- It is not designed to assess the individual student performance.
- This NAS was conducted for the Classes 3, 5 and 8 in government and government aided schools.
- The design and implementation of the survey included in its ambit the school leaders, teachers and the whole network of officials at the Cluster, Block, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the Directorates of Education in the different States/ UTs.
- The survey tools used multiple test booklets with 45 questions in Classes III and V related to language, mathematics and 60 questions in Class VIII in Mathematics, Language, Sciences and Social Sciences.
- The competency based test questions developed, reflected the Learning Outcomes developed by the NCERT which were recently incorporated in the RTE Act by the Government of India.
- There is no much variation in the scores of children belonging to social categories such as SC, ST, OBC and General.
- There is no much variation in the scores of children from schools having government and private management
Significance
- NAS 2017 has informed us about the learning levels of children at different stages and also about the learning outcomes on which score is very low
- The National Achievement Survey (NAS) is the largest ever national assessment survey in the country and is amongst the largest in the world, was conducted throughout the country.
NAS, Class X-2018
Key highlights of the survey
- The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducted National Achievement Survey throughout the country in February 2018 for Class 10 in government, government aided and private schools.
- The survey tools used multiple test booklets in Mathematics, Modern Indian Language, English, Sciences and Social Sciences.
- Along with the test items, questionnaires pertaining to students, teachers and schools were also used.
- The attainment of the learning levels of 1.5 million students across 610 districts in 34 States/UTs were assessed
- In the survey, students of class 10 have performed the worst in mathematics.
- In the average performance, Andhra Pradesh performs the best at 40.94 percent while Sikkim gives the lowest outcome with 27 per cent.
- The performance of Delhi was remarkable in average score in five subjects while J&K gave poor performance in four of the five subjects
