As many as 2,93,615 students will be tested in language and Mathematics in the State Educational Achievement Survey to be held on Friday.
The survey by PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a national assessment centre set up under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), will test the learning competencies of students in Classes III, VI, and IX.
Students in 10,789 schools, including government, aided, CBSE, ICSE, Kendriya Vidyalaya, and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, will participate in the survey.
To be held ahead of a national survey next year, the State achievement survey is also intended to identify gaps in learning, support classroom interventions, and aid teacher development.
Students of Class III will appear for a 60-minute test, those of Class VI for a 75-minute one, and Class IX students for a 90-minute test.
The survey will have a huge sample size too. The sample size for Class III and Class VI exceeds 1 lakh students—1,03,094 for Class III and 1,00,224 for Class VI. Only in Class IX is it slightly lesser at 90,297.
As many as 2.15 lakh students will appear for the survey in English, and over 76,000 in Malayalam. The number of those sitting for it Tamil and Kannada is around 1,000 and 700, respectively.
Two trials have been conducted in schools by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) to familiarise students with OMR sheets since primary students are not used to multiple choice questions. During the National Achievement Survey held in 2021, students had reportedly experienced problems owing to their unfamiliarity with the marking process.
The survey will be invigilated in schools by the 12,000-odd field investigators. They will distribute OMR sheets, explain to students how to mark responses, and transfer the responses of the Class III students whose responses will be marked on the question booklet to the OMR sheet. Training for the field investigators that is under way will conclude on Monday.
As many as 536 field coordinators will observe the conduct of the survey, assist the field investigators, and give directions to school authorities.
Block level coordinators will be in charge of conducting the survey and coordinating with field level coordinators, while district coordinators will organise training, conduct verifications, and so on.
The Samagra Shiksha Kerala, is coordinating the conduct of the examinations, while the SCERT is coordinating the academic activities. The survey results are expected to be out by January.
