Lok Sabha Question No. 1779 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-13
Subject: Poor Arithmetic Calculations of Children of Southern, Central and Western States of India
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Sougata Ray

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 1779 ANSWERED ON - 13/02/2023

## Poor Arithmetic Calculations of Children of Southern, Central and Western States of India

## 1779. PROF. SOUGATA RAY:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  recently  released  Annual  Status  of  Education Report  (Rural)  2022  which  shows  that  the  ability  of  school  children  to  carry  out  simple arithmetic calculations  was very poor in most of the Southern, Central and Western States compared to other parts of the country;

- (b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) the details of methodology followed for the ASER Survey;

(d)  the  steps  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  the  ability  of  school  children  to improve their arithmetic capacity;

(e)  whether  the  Government  has  given  counselling  to  the  students  who  were  very  poor  in mathematics; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

(a)  to  (c): Achievement survey released in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is conducted by a non-governmental organization.

However,  The  National  Achievement  Survey  (NAS)  has  been  conducted  to  evaluate children's progress and learning competencies of students at classes III, V, VIII and X with a cycle period of three years. The latest round of NAS i.e. NAS 2021 was held on 12.11.2021 and has  covered (a)  Government  Schools  (Central  Government  and  State  Government);  (b) Government Aided Schools; and (c) Private Unaided Schools. Subjects covered are Language, Mathematics & EVS for class 3 & 5; Language, Mathematics, Science & Social Science for class 8 and Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Science and English for class 10.  About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools from both rural and urban areas, have appeared in NAS 2021. National, State/UT and District Reports for NAS 2021 have been released on 25.5.2022 and are available at http://nas.gov.in. The learning gaps identified at the district level will be used to provide feedback to the districts.

Further,  a  national  level  workshop  on  Post-NAS  21  interventions  was  organised  on 28/07/2022 by Ministry of Education with representatives of all States/UTs, State Council of Educational  Research  &  Training  (SCERTs),  District  Institute  of  Education  &  Training (DIETs)  and  National  Council  of  Educational  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  to  support State/UT  governments  in  developing  long  term,  mid-term  and  short-term  interventions  to improve learning levels and orient on differential planning based on NAS 2021 data.

(d)  to  (f):    As  per  the  recommendation  of  National  Education  Policy  (NEP)  2020,  under Samagra Shiksha, a dedicated mission 'National  Initiative  for  Proficiency  in  Reading  with Understanding and Numeracy' (NIPUN Bharat) was launched by the government on 5th July 2021, for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3 by 2026-27. For this purpose, a curricular framework for foundational stage, engaging teaching-learning material both for teachers and students (online and offline), defined and measurable learning outcomes, teacher capacity building programme, assessment techniques including tracking the achievement of learning outcomes, addressing the needs of children's health and well-being including nutrition etc. has been developed to take it forward in a systematic fashion through a 5-tier implementation mechanism developed. Moreover, a comprehensive guideline of NIPUN Bharat has been developed for States and UTs to achieve the goal of proficiency in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for every child by grade 3, which can be accessed: https://dsel.education.gov.in/sites/default/files/NIPUN\_BHARAT\_GUIDELINES\_EN.pdf

Further under Samagra Shiksha Scheme, there is a provision of Learning Enhancement Program which envisages each student is given the opportunities necessary for his/her to make meaningful progress in acquiring skills/competencies, through a process of continuous improvement in teaching and learning.

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