National Achievement Survey (NAS) ? 2021

National Achievement Survey (NAS) – 2021

News: The Ministry of Education released the National Achievement Survey 2021 report.
• The Triennial Survey was conducted in November 2021.
• About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas have participated in NAS 2021.

About:
• It is a nationwide survey to assess the learning outcomes and health of the education system. It is the largest, nationwide, sample-based education survey conducted across India.
• It is undertaken by the Ministry of Education.
• It provides a system-level reflection on the effectiveness of school education. It collects information on relevant background variables such as school environment, teaching processes, and student home and background factors.
• It covers the whole spectrum of schools including Government schools (both State and Central government), Government-aided schools, and Private schools across India.
• The NAS 2021 was conducted in 22 mediums of instruction that covered languages such as English, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Manipuri, Mizo, Lepcha etc.
• It was conducted in different subjects for different grades. The grades include Class 3 and 5, Class 8 and Class 10. Subjects such as Science, Mathematics, Languages, English, Social Science were covered.

Key Highlights of Report:

National Average
• The national average percentage of students for class third was 59%, which declined by 10% to 49% in class fifth. It further declined to 41.9% in class eight and then 37.8% in class 10.
• The performance recorded a decline in almost all subjects.
• For instance, the mathematics score nationally was 57% in class third, dropping by almost 10% to 44% in fifth, and to 36% in class eighth, and 32% in class 10th.
• The language score nationally was 62% in class third, and dropped to 52% in class fifth, and to 53% in class eighth.
• For science, the national score declined from 39% in class eighth to 35% in class 10.

Rural and Urban Areas
• The average performance of schools in rural areas remained “significantly below” those urban areas in same states and union territories (UTs).

Social-Group Wise Performance
• The performance of students from the schedule caste (SC)/schedule tribe (ST)/Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories remained lower than that of students from the general category.

Gender-wise Performance
• The average performance of girls remained better than the boys in almost all subjects across the classes, both nationally and at state level.

How has perception of students towards learning changed?
• The perception of students about learning at home during the pandemic when the schools remained closed, and 78% of students termed it as burdensome with a lot of assignments. At least 38% of students faced difficulties in learning at home, while 24% said they did not have digital devices at home.

How did the states fare?
• Majority of states have performed significantly below the overall national score. However, some states such as Kerala, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Punjab performed better than the national average.
• Delhi’s performance in class eighth and class 10 was better when compared with the national average.
• Punjab has scored highest in all subjects for classes 3, 5 and 8.