The recent PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (RS) report has revealed significant learning gaps among students in Grades 3, 6, and 9 across India, particularly in core subjects like mathematics, language, science, and environmental studies. The survey, conducted by the Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH), assessed over 21.15 lakh students from 74,229 schools in 781 districts. PARAKH is an autonomous institution under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) functioning as India's national assessment regulator. The survey aims to standardize school-level assessments across states and boards, aligning with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The PARAKH RS, formerly known as the National Achievement Survey (NAS), is a national-level, competency-based assessment. The survey is designed to evaluate and monitor the performance of India's school education system. The assessment involved students from state government schools, government-aided schools, private unaided schools, and central government schools.

Key Findings

The PARAKH RS report highlighted a decline in learning outcomes as students progress through grades. While Grade 3 students demonstrated basic reading, vocabulary, and early math skills, many struggled with geometry and spatial reasoning. In Grade 6, fewer than 40% of students could solve real-life arithmetic problems or understand fractions, indicating gaps in conceptual understanding and application. By Grade 9, only 28–31% could apply percentages or understand number systems, and less than half grasped core civic and scientific concepts such as the Constitution, biodiversity, or electricity.

• Grade 3: Around 60-70% of students demonstrated basic reading, vocabulary, and early math skills. 67% of students could effectively use and guess new words, 60% could comprehend short stories independently, and 61% could read news, instructions, and basic materials. In mathematics, 68% could classify objects based on multiple properties, and 55% could arrange numbers up to 99 in order.
• Grade 6: Fewer than 40% could solve real-life arithmetic problems or understand fractions, indicating gaps in conceptual understanding and application. Only 38% could solve daily-life arithmetic problems, and just 29% could work with fractions.
• Grade 9: Only 28–31% could apply percentages or understand number systems. Just 34% could distinguish between living and non-living traits, and 37% could explain pressure, temperature, and density-based phenomena.

Performance Disparities

The survey revealed disparities in performance across states and districts. Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Chandigarh, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu emerged as the top-performing states and union territories. Conversely, low-performing districts were concentrated in Meghalaya, Jharkhand, and Arunachal Pradesh. Kendriya Vidyalayas recorded the lowest performance in mathematics in Grade 3, while government-aided and state government schools showed weak performance in mathematics in Grade 6. However, in Grade 9, students from Kendriya Vidyalayas performed the best across all subjects, particularly in language. Rural children performed better than their urban counterparts at the primary stages, and State Government schools dominated Grade 3 results.

Implications and the Way Forward

The findings of the PARAKH RS highlight the urgent need for reforms in foundational education and subject-wise learning outcomes. The survey results can be used to identify systemic strengths and weaknesses, enabling targeted interventions to ensure equitable and quality education for all students, aligning with the NEP 2020's emphasis on competency-based learning and holistic development. These results highlight areas where support is needed and can be addressed through focused teaching strategies, better teacher training, engaging learning resources, and community support.

PARAKH's role as a national assessment regulator is to standardize assessment practices across states, promoting a shift from rote learning to competency-based assessments. By tracking student learning outcomes at scale, PARAKH aims to provide insights for policy improvements in alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.