NAS report card puts J&K schools ahead of national average

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 30: J&K has registered an impressive performance in the sample-based National Achievement Survey (NAS-2021) conducted by the Ministry of Education for classes 3, 5, 8, and 10 in November last year.
The survey, which took place in all 733 districts across the country, was a competency-based national-level large-scale assessment that aimed to provide information about students’ learning achievement so that a system-level reflection on the effectiveness of school education in the country could be conducted.
Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Science were chosen as subjects for assessment in classes 3 and 5, while Environmental Studies was added for class 8 and Social Science and Modern Indian Language for class 10.
A total number of 79256 students and 16260 teachers in 3650 schools from all the 20 districts of J&K UT participated in the survey.
According to the NAS report card published recently, the percentage ratio of boys to girls for class 3 was 51 and 49, respectively, while it was 78 and 22 for urban to rural.
The management participation ratio with respect to schools run by the state government, private recognized and the Central Government was at 46, 47 and 7 percent respectively.
However, there was no significant improvement over the NAS 2017 results, except for Mathematics, which showed a modest improvement. The performance of boys and girls did not differ significantly, even though girls scored marginally higher at all levels-basic, competent and advanced.
Pulwama topped the results with 73.4% followed by Srinagar at 71.6 and Anantnag at 70.1 against the national average of 59%. Jammu stood at 66.4.
The quality of the teaching staff and sports facilities were praised by the headteachers who also emphasized the need to increase audio-visual and library facilities. The Covid-19 epidemic did cause issues, with 40% of pupils reporting difficulties studying at home.
The percentage ratio of boys to girls in class 5 was 50.9 and 49.1, respectively, while the urban-rural participation ratio was 76 and 24. In schools run by the state government, private recognized institutions, and the central government, the management participation ratio was 43%, 49%, and 7%, respectively.
Language had a performance percentage of 61, which was higher than the national average of 55. Similarly, the percentage for Mathematics was 48, compared to 44, and for EVS, it was 54, compared to 48.
In comparison to the NAS 2017 results, there was a significant improvement in Mathematics and EVS, though language scored 13 points lower.
Anantnag came out on top with 64.8 percent, followed by Pulwama with 62.7 percent and Srinagar with 62.6 percent, compared to a national average of 49 percent. Jammu had a score of 59.0.
In class 8, the percentage ratio of boys to girls was 49.3 and 50.7, respectively, while the percentage ratio of urban to rural participation was 77 and 23.
In schools run by the state government, private recognized schools, and the central government, the management participation ratio was 52%, 43%, and 5%, respectively.
Language had a performance percentage of 59, which was higher than the national average of 53. Similarly, the percentage for Mathematics was 39 versus 36, for EVS, 45 versus 39, and Social Science, 43 versus 39.
In comparison to the national average of 41.9 percent, Srinagar led the rankings with 55.7 percent, followed by Anantnag at 53.2 and Jammu at 52.7.
For class 10, the percentage ratio of boys to girls was 48.9 and 51.1, respectively, while the urban-rural participation ratio was 71 and 29.
In schools run by the state government, private recognized institutions, and the Central Government, the management participation ratio was 51, 45, and 4%, respectively.
Mathematics had a performance % of 31 compared to the national average of 32, Science had a performance percentage of 38 to 35, Social Science had a performance percentage of 39 to 37, and English had a performance percentage of 50 to 43. It was 36 to 41 for Modern Indian Languages (MIL).