Chandigarh girls country's best in school education: Report

Adding another feather to Chandigarh’s cap, girl students from the city schools have performed best in the country, stated a report of the Union Government released on Wednesday.

Parakh (Performance Assessment Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) Rashtriya Sarvekshan-2024, which was released by the Union Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar in New Delhi this morning, has declared Chandigarh as the best among all union territories (UTs) and third among all states and UTs in the country by performing above the national average in all parameters of the school education covered under the national study.

Conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), under the aegis of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Union Ministry of Education, this is India’s largest national educational survey, assessing the performance of the school education system every three years.

It covered 74,229 schools from 781 districts and witnessed participation of 2,70,424 teachers and 21,15,022 students across government, aided and private schools.

The survey, which replaced the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and aims to provide insights into student competencies at different educational stages and inform policy decisions, was conducted nationwide on December 4 last.

UT Education Secretary Prerna Puri said the assessment covered 3,365 students of Classes 3, 6 and 9 from 81 schools in the city, including 34 government, 33 private, seven government-aided and Central schools each. She disclosed that Chandigarh outperformed the national average in all subjects and grades, except for Grade 3 mathematics where the city students remained on a par with the national average.

“The achievement gap widened as grades progressed, showing Chandigarh’s effective education delivery in middle and secondary levels,” Prerna said. She revealed that Grade 9 language was a clear strength area with Chandigarh logging the highest performance gap of 16% more than the national average.

Divulging the rankings, UT Director School Education Harsuhinder Pal Singh Brar said Chandigarh ranked first among all UTs in overall performance of students in Grade 3, 6 and 9 while it stood third among all states and UTs in Grade 6 and 9 and ninth in Grade 3. He disclosed that girl students of Chandigarh topped the country in all parameters across all three grades.

“Chandigarh has outperformed the national average in all parameters under language and mathematics covered in Grade 3, language, mathematics and the world around us in Grade 6, and language, mathematics, science and social science in Grade 9,” said Brar, while sharing that the UT scored 65% and 60% in Grade 3 language and mathematics, respectively, against the national average of 65% and 60%; 68%, 54% and 57% in Grade 6 language, mathematics and the world around us, respectively, against the national average of 57%, 46% and 49%; and 70%, 43%, and 49% each in Grade 9 language, mathematics, science and social science, respectively, against the national average of 54%, 37% and 40% each.

Aligned with NEP

The assessment, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020, focused on measuring students’ achievement of learning competencies at the foundational, preparatory and middle stages, as defined by the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) and School Education (NCF-SE).

Findings baseline to measure progress

The findings are intended to serve as a baseline for measuring progress in learning achievements post the implementation of the NEP-2020. The data-driven insights from this assessment will assist both Central and state governments in formulating improved policies, refining curricula and designing targeted interventions to improve learning outcomes. Additionally, teachers and school leaders can utilise these findings to refine classroom strategies, address learning gaps and enhance overall teaching quality.

Report cards

The results of the assessment have been compiled by Parakh in the form of national, state, and district report cards released by the Union Ministry of Education at one-day conference of Secretaries and State Project Directors of all states and UTs in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Chandigarh topped in 2021 as well

Chandigarh had topped in the 2021 survey as well among all UTs in all parameters of Grade 3, 5, 8 and 10 covered at that time.