The findings of the latest National Achievement Survey for Class 5, published by the National Council of Education Research and Training this week, are predictably grim and show that a vast majority of students about to enter middle school face enormous challenges in reading, basic mathematics and other subject knowledge.

The survey, which aims to assess learning levels at different stages of education, is conducted by the NCERT every three years. The report on the fourth and latest cycle of the survey, due since September 2015, tells us that most Class 5 students have scored between 0 and 50% in reading comprehension, mathematics and environmental studies.

The latest assessment also finds a drop in learning levels compared to the previous cycle in 2010-'11. The NCERT surveyed more than 1.5 lakh students in 8,266 government and government-aided schools (privately managed) in the country.

Only three states (Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana) show no significant change compared with the previous cycle.

The National Achievement Survey is conducted periodically to gauge learning levels in Class 3, Class 5 and Class 7. One of the stated aims of the report is to ascertain whether students have basic competencies in language, maths and science and social studies using multiple-choice based questionnaires.

Testing times

Overall, the report says, Class 5 students got 45% of the answers correct for reading comprehension, 46% in maths and 50% for environmental studies.

However, 43% of all students scored 35% or less in reading comprehension (see chart below). Only 11% got 75% or more.

Reading comprehension was tested, among other things, through multiple-choice questions based on a short passage in order to gauge students’ grasp of ideas, ability to draw inferences and interpret what they read.

This is an example of a reading comprehension question.

“…Today, many people donate their eyes. After their death, their eyes are transplanted in the blind people’s eyes. Thus many blind persons are able to see.”

Why do many people donate their eyes?

Their eyes are weak. Blind people can become scholars. Their eyes will enable a blind to see. They want to become famous.

A majority – 64% – of children did not answer this correctly. The overall results in reading comprehension were as follows:

Maths questions tested knowledge of the number system, ability to do simple calculations and basic geometry and measurement. Overall, in maths, 37% students scored between 0 and 35%, 26% scored between 36 and 50% and 10% students scored higher than 75%.

Only 44% students answered this question on the number system correctly:

Renu has the following three number cards: 7, 5, 8. Which is the largest three-digit number she can make using all cards?

578 857 875 999

In environmental studies, there were at least some questions to which a majority of children got the right answer. For instance, 75% answered the following question correctly:

Which of the following birds cannot fly?

Parrot Crow Eagle Ostrich

This chart shows the overall result for the subject.

State of states

The state-wise results in each category show vast and sometimes surprising variations. For example, 55% students in the national capital of Delhi got of 0 to 35% correct answers in reading comprehension, compared with 38% Uttar Pradesh.

In only two states (Kerala and Mizoram) and two union territories (Daman and Diu, Dadra Nagar and Haveli), more than half the students scored more than 50% in this test. Results of other subjects also show similar variations.

Manipur is the only state where more than 20% students scored 75% or higher across all three tests, and Kerala is the only state in which girls perform significantly better than boys in all three subjects. While most of the rest of the country reports no significant variations between the achievements of students from urban and rural areas, in Uttar Pradesh, rural students had significantly higher scores in reading comprehension and maths.

Social classification

The survey data by social group shows that over all, Other Backward Class students and those classified as “Others” have the same scores in reading comprehension and environmental studies, but OBC students score lower than Others in maths.

Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students have the lowest scores in all three states. But again, variations between states exist. For example, in Arunachal Pradesh, Scheduled Tribe students score significantly higher than all other categories in all tests. In Uttar Pradesh, OBC students got the highest scores in reading comprehension and environmental studies.

The National Achievement Survey’s latest report, titled What Students of Class V Know and Can Do, confirms that a majority of children continue to be let down by schools, teachers and education administrators responsible for their learning. It shows that even the short-term fixes and NGO-led interventions that many states introduced after the cycle 3 survey four years ago, have made no difference to children who were in Class 2 at the time.

At the 11th meeting of the Inter-State Council – a body that discusses and makes recommendations on matters of interest and concern to states – on July 16, ways to improve learning outcomes is on the agenda. Hopefully, the National Achievement Survey report, with all its limitations, will force governments to ask what it is they are doing wrong and why they cannot get basic school education right.