PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 first assessment as per NEP, says CEO; test tomorrow

NEW DELHI: As the country’s top assessment body PARAKH - full form, Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development – gears up to conduct the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, its head and CEO, Indrani Bhaduri spoke to Careers360.

The PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 replaces the National Achievement Survey (NAS) , conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) since 2001. PARAKH is an independent assessment centre set up by the NCERT and was proposed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Sharing details about the assessment being conducted on a nationally-representative sample, Bhaduri said the survey is competency-based, stage-specific – a key departure from the NAS – and also looks into life skills of close to 23 lakh children from 782 districts. She added that through the survey, they are also trying to understand the performances of different boards across the country. Edited excerpts below.

What makes the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 different from NAS? What were the challenges faced?

Being different from the previous National Achievement Survey (NAS) in terms of grades and stages assessed. If we look at it, both are large-scale achievement surveys; the only shift is that NAS was grade-specific, we conducted assessments for Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10.

Now that we are doing the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 on December 4, it is stage-specific. The National Education Policy 2020 has defined pedagogical stages as foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary. We are assessing the competencies which have been achieved by the students at the end of foundation (in Class 3), preparatory (Class 6) and middle (Class 9). This is stage-specific.

At the end of the foundational stage, the assessment areas include: language, mathematics, and the world around us (TWAU) for Class 3. At the end of the preparatory stage, the assessment areas include language, mathematics, and TWAU for Class 6. While for class 9, the assessment areas include language, mathematics, science, and social science.

These Rashtriya Sarvekshan results will provide a baseline of understanding of learning competencies. This is for the first time we are assessing the competencies in children as per NEP. It is directly aligned to the National Curriculum Framework that has defined the stage-specific competencies.

The test will be conducted in 23 languages. When filling up the UDISE Plus data , schools fill in the medium of instruction that is used. The papers that will be sent to the sample schools will be in the medium of instruction mentioned in the UDISE.

Through the survey, we are also trying to understand the performances of boards which we previously did not in the National Achievement Survey. We will be looking into the performances of the boards through the sample schools affiliated with them.

What are the parameters the Rashtriya Sarvkeshan is going to assess?

One important thing is that it is competency-based and stage-specific, not grade-specific.

Second thing we have done is that we are also looking at life skills through our questionnaires. We have three questionnaires – pupil’s questionnaires, the other is teacher and then student.

In the pupil’s one, we have included questions on the life skills of the child. There are also questions on mental health, study habits, the school environment and others.

How long did it take to prepare for the Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024?

After the NAS 2021, two things followed. One: the post survey deliberation, the post survey communication of results. After 2021, we had dialogue with states and districts to communicate the results. Alongside, the preparation of 2024 had started, since it is a huge task.

In India, people talk about PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment], being done by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) but when it comes to size, we are much bigger. The bench marked technicalities that are involved in PISA, the same protocols are used in conducting this PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan.

I have presented papers in many seminars and conferences held internationally. They are really in praise and awe of India, saying that it is a magnificent data that we have and a lot of meta analysis can be done. People from Harvard and our own IITs are using our data to work further.

How were the schools chosen in each of the states?

Through a proper sampling technique. Rashtriya Sarvekshan is a sample-based survey and the sample is representative of the size. The sampling technique we use is the same being followed internationally by PISA, TIMS and others.

We follow the probability proportionate to size. PPS is followed by PARAKH to select schools. After that, using a systematic random sampling, 30 students are selected in a grade in a school for administration of the test..

It is a mix of government, government-aided, private and central schools. There are a total of 87,619 schools. It was done centrally by the Department of Statistics, Ministry of Education.

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What is the rural urban divide in the Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024?

It is a common perception that rural children are not doing well. But surprisingly, if we see the NAS 2017 and again validated in NAS 2021 , the rural child is doing well in Class 3 as compared to urban. But they start lagging behind as the grade advances. In Class 5, 8 and 10, their performances came down.

Understanding learning achievement is complex, it is dependent on many intervening factors. NAS evidences the performance; the ‘how’s’ and ‘why’s’ needs to be understood through case studies, dialogues with the stakeholders, all this forms a part of the post-NAS intervention.

I would like to tell you that I have seen some of the best rural schools. When NAS 2017 was conducted there was a district in Rajasthan which did really well. So, out of curiosity, I went there. I was amazed to see the schools in the district, they had such good infrastructure, equipment and smart classrooms. Hence the rural-urban proportion is similar.

How are the students' answers being recorded in the PARAKH survey?

Class 6 and Class 9 students will directly fill in the OMR sheet. But a Class 3 child is very young. Instead of the OMR, the child will be giving the response in the test booklet by encircling.

As a field investigator who is administering the test, they will transfer the booklet information to the OMR. What we have also done is that in each and every school, we have appointed an observer, a third-party observer. When the field investigator transfers this, the observer will cross-check to ensure that the correct response is getting transferred. There are quality control checks at various points.

There are six test booklets for Classes 3 and 6 and eight test booklets for Class 9.

How many people are involved in conducting the survey?

It was a rigorous standardised process involving a large number of people.

There are approximately 1 lakh field investigators who have been trained by 3,128 district level co-ordinators and 128 state-level co-ordinators (SLC). Every state and union territory, government mechanisms have worked hand and hand to make it a success.

The SLC appointed by PARAKH-NCERT will have administrative discretion vested in them for ensuring a hassle-free conduct of survey in the state/UT. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has deputed ‘observers’ for each and every sampled school.

When will the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 results come?

The results should be out in three months. The report card will be for 782 districts. It will provide a summary of performance at the district, state, and national levels, with the district as the unit for reporting.

India last participated in PISA in 2009. Now that we are improving on our assessment, will our country also be participating in PISA?

I am a person of evidence, so I wouldn’t like to hypothesise or guess. I would like to believe the evidence.

In 2009, when PISA was administered, I went through the PISA test and I believe it was done in a hurried manner. Unless the tests are contextualised, you are not going to understand the assessment or learning levels of students. If we see the PISA test, they were not contextualised and if it is not done so then it becomes meaningless and irrelevant to the child.

Assessment has to be meaningful and relevant for the child and it depends on the questions that we design. How I frame the question is very important and if the question is not meaningful to the child, naturally the learning levels will not be reflected. PARAKH’s mission is to work on this ‘questioning’ technique- making it relevant, meaningful and pro-active.