Tamil Nadu’s SLAS 2025 report reveals decline in Class 8 performance; officials call for remedial measures

School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh held a consultation meeting in Nagercoil with headmasters from 400 schools across the five educational districts of Kanniyakumari. The meeting focused on the recently released State-Level Achievement Survey (SLAS) 2025, which assessed learning outcomes of students in Classes 3, 5, and 8 in government and aided schools across Tamil Nadu.

The SLAS 2025 report highlighted significant learning gaps, particularly in Class 8, where students scored an average of 38% in Mathematics and 37% in Science. Performance in English was low across all grades.

“SLAS 2025 highlights strengths in language learning in classes 3 and 5, but reveals a concerning decline in Mathematics and Science by Class 8. English remains a consistent area for improvement across levels,” the official SLAS report said.

Survey covered 45,924 schools and 9.8 lakh students

The survey included nearly 45,924 schools, with a total sample of 9,80,340 students chosen through stratified random sampling to represent different sections, genders, and mediums of instruction. Up to 20 students were sampled from each school for Classes 3 and 5, while Class 8 included up to 30 students per school.

The assessment tested student performance in core subjects, including Tamil, English, Mathematics, EVS, Science, and Social Science. Class 3 students answered 35 questions, Class 5 had 45, and Class 8 had 50 questions. The papers were designed to assess a range of cognitive skills, from basic knowledge and understanding to application and reasoning.

Tests were conducted over three days in February 2025 and were administered by 38,670 trained final-year college students acting as field investigators. Completed OMR sheets were scanned at four regional centres—Chennai, Erode, Madurai, and Trichy—for centralised evaluation, ensuring accuracy and standardisation in scoring.

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Girls outperform boys across most grades

Key findings indicate that Class 3 students scored an average of 67% in Tamil, 69% in English, 54% in Mathematics, and 76% in EVS. Girls scored slightly higher than boys, by 2–3% in most subjects. Of the districts surveyed, 22 performed above the state average in all subjects, while 12 districts fell below the average.

For Class 5, average scores were 76% in Tamil, 51% in English, 57% in Mathematics, and 57% in EVS. Nineteen districts are above the state average overall, while 17 districts, mainly in northern and western Tamil Nadu, scored below average. Girls generally scored higher than boys in most subjects.

Class 8 students scored 52% in Tamil, 39% in English, 38% in Mathematics, 37% in Science, and 54% in Social Science. Fifteen districts scored above the state average, while 12 districts scored below. Girls performed better in Tamil and Social Science. The results show a decline in performance in Mathematics, Science, and English at the secondary level.

Officials recommend strengthening teacher training

The assessment recommended strengthening teacher training, expanding remedial programmes for underperforming subjects, and leveraging data-driven instruction to monitor student learning. The survey also emphasised the continued success of initiatives like Ennum Ezhuththum and suggested that SLAS be conducted annually to guide policy decisions and teaching practices.