NAS survey points to alarming drop in performance of South school students

The recently released National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 shows that the performance levels of students in classes 3 to 10 in South Indian states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which usually rank high on the educational index, have come down with regards to learning abilities.

For example, the average performance score of students at the national level in mathematics is 220 out of 500 in Class 10. The average score of Tamil Nadu is 200, it is 210 in Kerala, 217 in Andhra Pradesh, 210 in Telangana and 219 in Karnataka. On the other hand, among North Indian states, Bihar has an average score of 229, Madhya Pradesh 226, Odisha 224, Rajasthan 256 and Punjab 273.

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Similarly, in class 10 science, the national average score is 206. While Kerala scored just 2 more than the national average and Karnataka equalled the national average, Tamil Nadu scored 205, Telangana 202 and Andhra Pradesh 205.

A national-level government survey

Started in 2001-02 and conducted once in three years by the Union Education Ministry, the NAS is a national-level, large-scale assessment conducted to obtain information about the learning achievement of students of classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 studying in state government, government-aided, private and Central government schools.

The 2021 survey focussed on competency-based assessment. It was conducted in language, mathematics and environmental studies for classes 3 and 5, language, mathematics, science and social science for class 8, and modern Indian language, mathematics, science, social science and English for class 10.

About 1.18 lakh schools, 5.26 lakh teachers and 34.01 lakh students participated.

‘Governments created an anti-exam mentality’

The Class 10 board examinations are generally considered a turning point in life, since based on score in this exam one’s choice of stream in higher education is decided. So, both teachers and parents put more pressure on students to obtain more marks in the Class 10 board examination.

In view of this, though states like Tamil Nadu took various initiatives like conducting classes through Kalvi Tholaikkatchi (Education Channel), distributing smartphones to Class 10 students and helping to recharge mobile data, etc., to address the learning gaps during the COVID pandemic, the performance level of the students is a cause of worry.

“Both the Dravidian parties have done their best in addressing the education gap. However, they have also created an anti-exam mentality among students. At least in the fight against NEET, there is a reason. But the parties have made students feel bitter even about school board exams by reducing the syllabus and procrastinating while taking decisions on whether or not to conduct exams (amdi the pandemic),” educational counsellor Bhaskaran Krishnamurthy told The Federal.

According to him, another major reason why Tamil Nadu’s performance is below national average is that the attention of students suffered during the pandemic.

“During the lockdown, most of the students shifted their attention towards entertainment activities like watching films, playing online games, spending more time on social media, etc. We failed to create an environment where students search for new technologies or space to learn so that they themselves develop an interest to concentrate on their academics,” Krishnamurthy added.

Growing disparity in performance

The NAS report also includes gender-wise, school location-wise, school management-wise and community-wise performance levels. The disparity between the national average and the Tamil Nadu average keeps increasing across grades and categories.

For example, take the language subject of classes 3, 5, 8 and 10. The national average for class 3 is 323, whereas in Tamil Nadu it is 320. In class 5, the national average is 309 but Tamil Nadu’s average is 298. In class 8, the national average is 302 but the state average is much lower at 284. In class 10, the national score is 260 and the state score is slightly better at 254.

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The survey shows that while the performance levels are relatively good till middle school — in all categories like gender, community, rural and urban schools, government, government-aided, private and central government schools – they fall in high school.

Rural, backward areas

Drawing the attention of the state education minister towards such disparity, Villupuram MP D Ravikumar has pointed to the need for urgency to make efforts to improve the learning abilities of the school students in the state, particularly in backward districts like Villupuram.

“In the 2017 report, the rural students performed better in mathematics, science and social sciences than urban students. But in the 2021 report, rural students’ performance has fallen across subjects. The SC/ST students in classes 3 and 5 are doing better in all subjects as compared to other community students. However, in classes 8 and 10, the situation reverses. This shows that SC/ST students in higher grades need special attention to improve their learning,” said Ravikumar in a statement.

‘Report raises doubts’

Talking to The Federal, P K Ilamaran, state president, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association, said that the report raises many doubts.

“Firstly, the survey was conducted on November 12, 2021. At that time, most of the schools were shut. The schools which were running had only a small number of students and that too on alternate days. Secondly, as far as Chennai is concerned, we haven’t received any information on such a survey and the teachers were also not roped in. This creates a doubt on who collected the data and from where. Thirdly, before the said period, many North Indian families migrated to their home states. That could also be reflected in the performance levels of those states,” he said.

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However, Ilamaran added that while most students in lower classes forgot the skills of reading, writing and calculating, the students in the upper classes lost interest in studying. Many of them were subjected to child labour and child marriage.

“In order to overcome this, the government is implementing schemes like Illam Thedi Kalvi (Education at Doorstep) and Ennum Ezhuthum (Numbers and Letters). These initiatives are being carried over to the coming academic year also. So, in another one year, the state will reach the top in performance levels,” Ilamaran added.