PARAKH Survery: PARAKH Survey, conducted by NCERT has revealed significant learning deficit among students in Grades 3, 6 and 9 across India, prompting for changes in overall education and subject-wise improvements.
What Does PARAKH Stand For?
PARAKH, which stands for Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development, is a National Assessment Center established under India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
What Is the Objective of the PARAKH Survey?
The core objectives of PARAKH survey are:
1. Capacity Development in Competency Based Assessment
PARAKH and PhDCC are conducting nationwide workshops to train educators on NCF 2023 and bridge gaps in competency-based teaching.
2. Large-Scale Achievement Survey
PARAKH conducted a nationwide survey assessing 8.5 million students in foundational literacy and numeracy across 30 plus States/UTs.
3. Equivalence of School Boards
PARAKH is working towards examination reforms and board equivalence through data-driven workshops and policy recommendations.
4. Holistic Progress Cards
PARAKH has developed 360-degree Holistic Progress Cards to enable comprehensive, competency-based student assessments at all school stages.
Who Is Conducting the PARAKH Survey?
PARAKH Survey is conducted by the National Assessment Centre, PARAKH, which is an independent constituent unit of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
What Kind of Questions Are Asked?
The PARAKH Survey is conducted for Grade 3, 6 and 9 and questions are asked related to students' syllabus, some in the form of assessments. These include: "Whether students can make a simple transaction using a 100 rupee note" for Class 3 students, and "Whether they can summarise key points from reading a text such as an article, novel" for Class 6.
Is PARAKH related to board exams?
Yes, PARAKH works with the board of school education to develop recommendations pertaining to examination reforms. PARAKH aims to make all the school boards equal in order to allocate credit points to all forms of learning, be it academic, vocational, or experiential. This equivalence of school boards will help PARAKH to make better examination reforms.
Key Findings
- In language, girls slightly performed better than boys at the foundational. Girls achieved an average score of 65 per cent while boys scored 63 per cent. While in Mathematics, both boys and girls achieved the same score of 50 per cent.
- Grade 3 rural students outperformed their peers in both subjects.
- Central Government schools emerged as the top performer for both preparatory and middle levels.
Key Highlights
- The 2024 PARAKH survey covered 3 classes- Grade 3, 6 and 9 while the earlier survey had covered Grade 5 and 8.
- 21,15,022 students had participated in the survey from 74,299 students.
- While the national average score slightly lags behind as compared to 2017, many states and UTs have shown improvements including Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh.
- These insights help attribute to targeted foundational learning initiatives, enhanced teacher training, and the implementation of NEP 2020 recommendations, especially those related to the NIPUN Bharat Mission.
- The PARAKH survey puts focus on real world questions. For grades 3, 6 and 9 questions were asked regarding their Class subjects and real-world questions like "What students would do in an emergency situation like fire, small injury?" and Whether students know enough words to carry out day-to-day interactions.
The PARAKH 2024 Survey results were updated on July 1, 2025.
As the nation moves towards a data-driven education transformation, the results of the PARAKH survey will serve as the basis for education polices and reforms.