Postpone National Achievement Survey since schools have just reopened, Sisodia tells Pradhan

The Ministry of Education is gearing up to conduct the National Achievement Survey (NAS) on Friday to assess learning levels. However, the Delhi Education Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has now written to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, urging him to postpone the survey.

Sisodia says that the data collected in the survey will not be "reliable" as schools have not completely opened after a prolonged closure due to COVID-19, and the exercise will be a "wastage" of time and money. In his letter, the minister says, "Students have gradually started coming to schools after one and a half years. I believe at this time we should focus on the social, mental and emotional well being of students. A big number of students have not returned to schools, so there should be an effort to bring them back rather than formulating a policy on the basis of a survey done when schools are half open." According to the MoE officials, over 38 lakh students from 1.23 lakh schools in 733 districts across the country will participate in the survey on Friday.
 

Pic: Edexlive, Bidushi Das

"I humbly request you that the survey should be stopped for now and conducted later at a time when the situation turns normal. The purpose of the survey will be served then only and data will be reliable. To conduct the survey at this time will be a waste of time and money and if a policy is formulated on the basis of this survey, the results can be fatal," he added.

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The survey, which assesses competencies developed by students at the grade levels of third, fifth, and eighth, is conducted every three years. It was last conducted in 2017 and was scheduled to take place in 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 situation, it was postponed until this year. While instrument development, testing, finalisation of test items, sampling of schools, etc. have been done by the NCERT, the actual administration of the test in the sampled schools will be done by the CBSE in collaboration with the respective states and union territories.

The survey will cover government, government-aided and private schools, and will help to assess learning interruptions and new learnings during the pandemic and to take remedial measures.