The December 2024 PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan has disclosed Indian school students to be suffering from acute learning deficits. The nation-wide survey, which was formerly called National Achievement Survey (NAS), examined 21 lakh plus students of Grade III, Grade VI, and Grade IX from 74,000 plus schools in 781 districts and assessed their mastery in language, mathematics, science, and social science. The results indicate general scholastic deficiencies, especially in the basic skills like reading, arithmetic, scientific aptitude, and elementary geography.

On the first level, Grade III students exhibited broad regions of deficiency in elementary numeracy as well as common sense. As many as only 55% were able to arrange two-digit numbers in proper ascending or descending order. Whereas 58% could carry out addition and subtraction activities within 99, just half were able to recognize and comprehend geometric forms or spatial relations. Language ability had more improved performance, with 67% of students manifesting an adequate vocabulary to handle everyday conversations and infer word meanings. Sixty percent of them could understand simple stories, recognize characters and types of stories, and 61% could read simple written forms like newspapers or instructions. Regarding common abilities like measuring and dealing in money, 61% could measure units of time correctly and merely 50% could deal with simple transactions up to Rs 100.

At the middle grade (Grade VI), difficulty in understanding and in numerical skill increased. The test showed that 43% of the students at this level could not comprehend the gist in reading passages, make inferences, or draw conclusions. In mathematics, 54% could not cope with simple number sense, such as use of the Indian place-value system and problem-solving involving real-life problems with the four operations. Problem-solving was poor, with a paltry 38% of children able to answer basic whole-number problems, and only 29% able to compare or represent simple fractions such as ½ or ¼ in more than one way. Estimation and measurement skills were also behind, with just 42% of children being able to suggest reasonable ways of estimating quantities such as length or time. Less than half of the social science and science students were able to see natural or social phenomena or deconstruct simple civic concepts such as how the local institutions, e.g., markets or panchayats, work. 

At secondary school, gaps in knowledge only widened further. In Grade IX, a whopping 63% of students were unable to recognize simple numerical patterns or use fractions and integers in everyday problem-solving. Most failed to recognize multiples or powers of numbers, i.e., multiples of 7 or powers of 3. The results of the science were also disturbing with more than 60% of the students incorrectly classifying matter on the basis of physical or chemical properties or describing major concepts such as magnetism or change in matter using the theory of particles. In social studies, over 60% of the students were in competence levels that were below expectation in terms of reading charts and maps and reading geography and history concepts such as climate and soil formation.

Gaps were also enormous between regions, school categories, and demographic categories. The best performing states were Punjab, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh, which posted good performance at all three grade levels. At the other end of the ladder, Jammu & Kashmir and Meghalaya were always among the weakest. West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and Jharkhand have been weak in two or more of the three grades. Sahebganj district in Jharkhand, Reasi and Rajouri districts in J&K, and a few districts in the Garo Hills belt of Meghalaya were among the weakest-performing districts. Shi Yomi in Arunachal Pradesh and South West Garo Hills were the Grade IX low achievers.

School-level performance gaps also emerged in the survey. Interestingly, Kendriya Vidyalayas had the poorest math performance at Grade III but were best placed schools in all subjects at Grade IX, even better than government-aided, state government, and private schools—particularly language skills.

No least among these was the persistent urban-rural achievement gap. While city students were scoring higher in all subjects, the achievement gaps tended to be narrow. Yet, numerous rural areas were dedicated to low standards of achievement, especially in basic literacy and numeracy. Such rural-urban disparity, compounded by small but profound gender differences in reading literacy, reasoning, and numeracy, indicate systemic failures in equitable access to quality education and effective pedagogy.

The results of the PARAKH survey uphold the compelling argument for interventionist approaches. Bridging learning gaps in rural and low-achieving districts, in specific, will require more than a shift in the curriculum but also a consistent investment in teacher training, facilities, and localized learning assistance. With practically half or more of students in critical grades not even accessing basic levels of learning, the report is a bleak reminder of India’s failure to provide actionable, inclusive schooling for all.