Six non-BJP ruled states do away with learning assessment tests for children
Six non-BJP-ruled states, including Bengal, stayed away from the learning assessment test State Educational Achievement Survey (SEAS) for children of Classes III, VI and IX held this month by the newly started central body Parakh.
The other states are Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab and Rajasthan, according to a media release issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). The test was conducted through optical mark recognition (OMR) sheets to gauge the competence in language and mathematics achieved at the end of the foundational, preparatory and middle stages. Nearly 80 lakh students from three lakh government, government-aided and private schools in 5,917 blocks took the test.
Parakh had written to all state governments seeking the participation of their children in the test as it is aimed at identifying learning gaps, strengths and areas for enhancement in teaching-learning and assessment activities. Data will be available for each block, apart from compiled figures for each district, state and the country.
The results are expected to be declared in the last week of January.
Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for Common School System-Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN), which is spearheading a movement for school education reforms, disapproved of the OMR-based assessment for small children.
“OMR-based assessment is not suitable for children of Classes III or VI. They are at a formative stage. For them, the assessment should be conducted by the schoolteacher. The teachers should be empowered and supported,” Babu said.
He also opposed the national benchmarks of expected competencies at each stage.
“Parakh has developed a one-nation benchmark. This again does not match the ground realities. The syllabus and contents are not the same among states for children of the same class,” he said.
Babu said centralised tests serve the market-driven agenda of the government.
“The government does not want to spend on public education, rather it plans
to wind up its schools. By citing the data, the teachers may be victimised and schools may be merged in blocks where the results are poor,” he feared.
School education department secretary Sanjay Kumar said the insights obtained from the survey would form the “bedrock for evidence-based policies and initiatives directed towards enriching the quality of education for the students”.
The Union education ministry set up Parakh this year to develop standard norms on assessment.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducts the National Achievement Survey (NAS) for Classes III, V, VIII and X once in three years in language, mathematics, environmental science and social science.
The last one was held in 2021 when 3.4 million children participated.
NEET-UG syllabus shortened
New Delhi: The syllabus for medical entrance examination NEET-UG has been reduced to align it with the curriculum rationalised by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and other school boards, according to the National Testing Agency (NTA).
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG), which is the country’s largest exam for medical admissions, will be conducted on May 5 next year.
