The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2024: A Gateway to Evaluating Student Learning in India

Introduction

• The National Achievement Survey (NAS) is one of the most valuable assessment instruments used for examining the quality of learning in Indian school.
• National Achievement Survey is a nationwide study done by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) that happens once in three years studying student’s learning at different levels.
• As a norm for coming years NAS will take place on 4th December, 2024 and evaluate nearly five million students in 792 districts all across India.
• This survey is quite important not only for identifying academic achievements but also for determining future educational polices and important problems of the education system.

What Is National Achievement Survey and Why Is It Important?

• National Achievement Survey was originally conducted in 2001 as a tool to assess the efficiency of academic performance of school students in India.
• This survey evaluates the general competency of students in important subjects such as Math, Language and Environmental Science, It gives the policy makers and educators insights concerning the competency of the current curriculum and the teaching pedagogy in use.
• More importantly, Adam and National Achievement Survey are diagnostic tools. Not only does comprehensively cover the academic year on year performance of students with an additional check on eventualities that may hinder learning, it also qualifies socio-economic status, learning environment, and even geographical regions in terms of quality learning.
• This holistic approach ensures that NAS is not only a result sheet to the students but also a tool for evaluation of the country’s educational system infrastructure.

Key Features of NAS 2024

Larger Participation Pool

• Earlier years lagged behind for National Achievement Survey 2024 but it is expected to show better turnout for the program. About five million students, in particular, from Classes 3, 6 and 9 shall participate in the survey, an increase from the 3.7 million registration of NAS survey conducted in 2021. These grades are important benchmark grades in a student’s schooling.
• The Class 3 and 6 children are new learners while the Class 9 children are preparing to sit for examinations that will determine the coursework in their higher education.
• National Achievement Survey granted this year will reach out to 31 states and Union Territories; the rural areas and most unlikely locations for a student’s growth.
• Such comprehensiveness shall ensure that the survey provides much-needed information on the state of education in both the urban and the rural areas, hence the more efficient development of policies to meet the needs of the two areas.

Inclusion of More Languages

• India is multilinguistic and National Achievement Survey 2024 survey agents will have to administer the survey in 26 languages.
• This is a step up from previous years, with six new languages added: The awardees write in Kashmiri, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Santhali, Maithili, and Dogri-bothe languages that are small linguistically, but rich in literature.
• Since the survey is conducted in more languages, NAS guarantees the student from diverse linguistic backgrounds to be able to respond effectively to the evaluation by offering it in more languages, thereby making it more comprehensive.

Competency-Based Assessment

• As it has already been mentioned one of the key distinctive features of National Achievement Survey is competency-based assessment model.
• This is in contrast to conventional assessment in which students are asked what they know and not how they can apply what they have learnt in context.
• This model favours interest and learning as compared to cramming and rote memorisation hence it fosters the development of other ism skills, that is critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, skills in the use of understanding.
• Each grade level will have its own set of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) designed to test these competencies:
  • Class 3: Each student will sit 45 Knowledge Based MCQs in language, mathematics and environmental science in 90 minutes.
  • Class 6: To further enhance the difficulty level of the survey, 51 MCQs will be posed to the students though they are in the same field as the ones administered in the quiz above.
  • Class 9: These students will sit for 60 MCQs, questions that we derive from the curriculum for classes 6 to 8. They will be allowed 120 minutes to complete the test.
• Instead of focused on the knowledge testing, which could produce simple memorization, NAS promotes advanced approaches to teaching and strengthens core subjects grounding, thus preparing students for further learning.

Assessment Methodology: Random Sampling and Fairness

• In a way of sampling, NAS uses the random sampling method and selects schools and students for participation randomly.
• This makes it possible for the survey to be impartial, credible and genuine reflection of the much larger student society.
• Random sampling plays an important in making sure that no kind of self-selection bias occurs and increases the generalizability of the results.
• From this perspective, NAS 2024 will also investigate other aspects within learning environment and other socio-economical factors which might potentially affect performance of the students.
• This data will be helpful in knowing how students from different backgrounds perform and therefore assist policymakers to come up with necessary measures for low performing students.

Impact of NAS on Educational Policy and Teaching

• Education policy is one of the areas in which National Achievement Survey has had the most profound effect. Surveys undertaken from these sources give a clear insight of the strengths and the areas of weaknesses prevailing in the Indian educational system.
• From this data, districts report cards are produced in detail to give summary of the performance of students at the district level.
• These reports bring awareness of relative decentralisation underscore appendices that may help policymakers in directing human and financial capital to relevant areas.
• For instance, our previous NAS based surveys indicate a decline of student performance right from Class 3 to Class 10.
• This trend has led to worries about how curriculum mediates long-term learning outcomes thereby leading to educational reform processes designed for improving teaching techniques as well as the curriculum itself and teachers training programs.
• Next Assessment and Survey 2024 outcome that is expected in February 2025 will be very crucial in identifying student learning losses brought about by COVID-19 pandemic.
• COVID affected education systems globally, and schools and colleges were closed for a long term, and classes shifted online.
• National Achievement Survey 2024 will also capture a picture that would reflect the extent of the disruptions on performance and its implications as well as recommendations that would halt the worst impact.

Addressing Learning Gaps: A Post-Pandemic Recovery

• COVID-19 in India led to closures and such students experienced months learning in virtual classrooms, limited access to educational materials, and overall disengagement.
• This paper has shown how learning gaps that will be established by NAS 2024 will be of central importance.
• While educators and policymakers continue to prepare for the results to be out in early 2025, there is optimism that NAS will provide a wealth of understandings of how students are coping with post-pandemic education.
• Of the issues raised in the previous surveys as pertinent to the institution, there was increasing disparity in scores across the students by grade level.
• NAS 2024 will determine if these statistics have worsened post pandemic or if new policies are being implemented to narrow the gaps.
• This knowledge will be crucial in developing the recovery scenarios that can be potentially introduced on a local and a national level.

Conclusion

• The National Achievement Survey is not simply an examination as possessed by NASCO 2024.
• It is a very effective instrument that allows the mull over the Indian education system’s opportunities and shortcomings. NAS, being a government project designed to assess the academic achievement of about five million students through out India, it offers timely and resourceful data to facilitate future educational change and development.
• NAS 2024 is expected to provide more detailed analysis of students’ performance with the adoption of competency based assessment model, adoption of inclusive language options in exam and the recognition of the socio-economic factors that hinder learning.
• As the country awaits the results in February 2025, one thing is certain: NAS will remain one of the major driving tools in the quest to enhance education quality in India.

FAQs

Q1: What is the National Achievement Survey (NAS)?
Ans: National Achievement Survey is a large-scale assessment conducted every three years by NCERT to evaluate the academic performance of school students across India. It tests students’ proficiency in subjects like language, math, and environmental science while also examining socio-economic factors that influence learning.

Q2: When will NAS 2024 take place?
Ans: NAS 2024 will be conducted on December 4, 2024.

Q3: How many students will participate in NAS 2024?
Ans: Around five million students from Classes 3, 6, and 9 will participate, an increase from 3.7 million students in the last survey in 2021.

Q4: Which classes will be assessed in NAS 2024?
Ans: The survey will assess students in Classes 3, 6, and 9 across 792 districts and 36 States and Union Territories in India.