Policy Update
Prithvi Naoh
Introduction
The National Achievement Survey (NAS) is a very big scale assessment to assess the learning outcomes for the student in classes 3,5,8 and 10. It was intended to evaluate the children’s progress and learning competencies across various subjects. The survey was conducted in 720 districts across all 28 states and 8 union territories in India which comprised 3.4 million students from over 118,274 schools. NAS aimed towards providing a fully comprehensive overview of the Indian school education system. As India was moving towards implementing the National Education Policy(2020), tools like NAS were particularly crucial to reform the school systems and correct allocation of resources.
Source- https://nas.gov.in/
Objectives of the National Achievement Survey
- Assess student learning outcomes: its main objective was to evaluate students’ competencies relating to the learning outcomes prescribed by NCERT for specific grades and subjects.
- Support evidence based policy making:the data collected by NAS helps identify the gaps in the education system, which in return provides policy makers with empirical evidence needed to design the correct syllabus.
- Curricular evaluation and Pedagogical insights: the data from NAS would help the curriculum designers in developing a curriculum that would optimize the education and with it the ways of teaching.
- Enable equitable education development: the NAS survey would help the policy makers in identifying the disparities between regions, socioeconomic backgrounds and gender disparities.
Merits of NAS in Policy making
- Evidence based decision making: The NAS uses quantifiable data to assess student achievement levels. This makes the policy makers ideas to targeted policies rather than fleeting ideas and allocate resources more efficiently and measure the impact of previous policies.
- Identification of regional and demographic disparities: The data allows policy makers to efficiently find out the disparities based on location, gender and social norms. It also highlights the inequalities in access to quality education.
- Curriculum and Instructional improvements: NAS helps in evaluating whether the current curriculum aligns with the best learning outcomes and is utilized to its most effective pedagogical approaches.
- Enhancing accountability: with metrics across schools and institutions, NAS supports the education department in monitoring teacher effectiveness and student performance making it accountability mechanism work.
- Supporting National reforms: NAS provides critical feedback which goes into the works for broader goals of NEP 2020, and competency based education.
Demerits and Limitations
- Standardization and contextual irrelevance: adapting a standardized testing format is not suitable for a country like India with multilingual and multicultural classrooms especially in remote or tribal regions.
- Sampling and representational bias: raising concerns about the representation of NAS samples which disregard children with disabilities or children from marginalized communities.
- Rote learning focus: based on curriculum based assessment, NAS often measures recall-based learning rather than higher -order thinking or problem-solving skills.
- Implementation challenges: lack of trained personnel, travel and logistical difficulties and technological constraints in rural areas makes it difficult in implementing the policy all over the country and this hinders effective administration and data collection.
- Misinterpretation of results: Risk of NAS results used to rank states or schools superficially, without addressing the root cause of poor performance.
Source- https://nas.gov.in/report-card/2021
Comparative analysis with other Educational assessment
1. NAS vs. ASER (Annual status of education report)
NAS is a school-based and curriculum-driven model while ASER is a household survey focusing on literacy and numeracy among children aged 5-16. ASER is more grassroots-oriented and flexible in terms of assessing tools and also offering a community based perspective on learning.
2. NAS vs. UDISE+
The unified district information system for education plus (UDISE+) gathers institutional data which includes school infrastructure, enrollment and teacher availability. Together NAS output/learning and UDISE+ input/facilities provide a comprehensive view of the educational ecosystem.
3. NAS vs. PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)
PISA evaluates 15-years-old in reading math and science in a competency based assessment. Unlike NAS, which is a linked national curriculum, PISA excels in focusing on problem-solving and real-world applications. India’s future participation in PISA could complement NAS by offering international benchmarks.
Way Forward
As India continues implementing NEP 2020, the role of NAS is expected to become more integrated into the policy feedback loop. The survey data can inform teacher training programs, curriculum restructuring and digital education platforms. With increased emphasis on literacy at a foundational level under the NIPUN Bharat initiative, NAS can also track progress on this front as well. The digital transformation of NAS, which includes use of smartphones, tablets and online dashboards, promises in ensuring a future of improved data efficiency, transparency and real time reporting, in the near future AI and data analytic tools could provide predictive insights from NAS data ,guiding micro-level educational interventions.
Conclusion
The National Achievement survey stands as a crucial tool in India’s pursuit of educational excellence with equity. While it offers valuable insights to the policy makers, educators and administrators. Its core effectiveness depends on careful interpretation, complementary assessments, and sustained political will. As India steers reforms under NEP 2020, the NAS must evolve to assess not just what students know, but also how they think, learn, and apply knowledge in real-life situations.
References
ASER Centre. (2021). Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2021. http://www.asercentre.org
ASER Centre. (2022). Inside Indian Classrooms: An Analysis of ASER and NAS. http://www.asercentre.org
Banerjee, A., Banerji, R., Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Khemani, S. (2020). Pitfalls of Schooling Without Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in India. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 12(1), 284–308. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20170398
Ministry of Education (MoE). (2021). National Achievement Survey 2021 Report. Government of India. https://nas.gov.in
Ministry of Education (MoE). (2022). UDISE+ 2021-22 Report. Government of India. https://udiseplus.gov.in
NCERT. (2021). NAS 2021 Framework and Guidelines. National Council of Educational Research and Training. https://ncert.nic.in
OECD. (2019). PISA 2018 Results. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/
Pritchett, L. (2013). The Rebirth of Education: Schooling Ain’t Learning. Center for Global Development.
Sriprakash, A., & Proctor, H. (2019). Learning, Inequality and Policy: Bringing Theory to Education Policy. Springer.
World Bank. (2022). Learning Loss and Recovery in India: Policy Options Post-COVID-19. https://www.worldbank.org
About the contributor- Prithvi Naoh is a research intern at IMPRI.
Acknowledgement- The author sincerely thanks Ms. Aasthaba Jadeja and the fellow IMPRI fellows for their valuable contributions
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.
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