CHENNAI: Over 1.8 lakh students from schools across Tamil Nadu, under various managements, are expected to participate in the National Achievement Survey (NAS) on December 4. The survey, being monitored by the National Council for Educational Research and Training, will assess students from classes 3, 6, and 9 this year.
The survey, held once every three years, is a nationwide assessment designed to evaluate the learning levels of students in government, central government, government-aided and private schools. It will assess students in subjects like mathematics, science, language, and social sciences apart from gathering basic information about school facilities.
“The final list of blocks and schools to be covered will be confirmed only when the exam date nears. Schools are selected through random sampling,” said an official from the State Council of Educational Research and Training, which is coordinating the survey along with Samagra Shiksha. Field-level officers will be appointed for each sampled school to monitor the test, and a training programme will be conducted for them.
The test will be in a multiple-choice question format, and answer sheets will be uploaded on the PARAKH website. The last survey, conducted in 2021, covered 4,145 schools, 19,001 teachers, and 1,26,253 students of classes 3, 5, 8, and 10 in the state.
According to the last survey results, students from the state performed below the national average in almost all subjects. While not all blocks are covered in NAS, NCERT conducted a State Educational Achievement Survey last year, covering all blocks in Tamil Nadu.