National Achievement Survey (NAS)-2021

• The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education released the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report which assesses the health of school education system in the country by conducting comprehensive evaluation survey of children’s learning competencies at classes III, V, VIII and X with a cycle period of three years. It reflects the overall assessment of school education system. The last NAS was held in 2017.
• The NAS 2021 was held on 12.11.2021 at all India level and covered
  • (a) Government Schools (Central Government and State Government);
  • (b) Government Aided Schools; and
  • (c) Private Unaided Schools.
• Subjects covered are
  • Language, Mathematics & EVS for class 3 & 5;
  • Language, Mathematics, Science & Social Science for class 8 and
  • Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Science and English for class 10. 
• About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas have participated in NAS 2021.

The Objective:

• The objective of NAS 2021 is to evaluate children's progress and learning competencies as an indicator of the efficiency of the education system, so as to take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels.  
• It will help to unravel the gaps in learning and will support state/UT governments in developing long term, mid-term and short-term interventions to improve learning levels and orient on differential planning based on NAS 2021 data.
• The report is based on the performance in all subjects through disaggregation by gender (female, male), Area (Rural and Urban), Management of schools (Government, Government aided and Private unaided) and Social Groups (Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST), Other Backward Communities (OBC) and General.

Key findings of the NAS 2021

• 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 10^th.
  • 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.
• Perception of Students about Learning:
  • 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.