Parliament Question: Learning Loss and Digital Divide in Government Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 3620 ANSWERED ON – 11/08/2025 Learning Loss and Digital Divide in Government Schools 3620. Shri K Sudhakaran: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted any national or State-wise assessment of learning loss among students, particularly in Government schools since the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) the data on dropout rates and academic backlogs caused due to prolonged school closures, especially in rural and underprivileged regions; (c) whether the Government has allocated funds or designed specific interventions to address the digital divide and its impact on academic recovery in Classes I to X; and (d) the steps being taken to ensure equitable access to remedial education and psychological support for students impacted during the pandemic? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): The Government of India, undertakes large-scale assessments to measure learning outcomes in schools across the country from time to time. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 was conducted after schools reopened post-COVID to evaluate learning levels of students across Classes III, V, VIII and X, in Language, Mathematics, Environmental Studies (EVS), Science, Social Science and Modern Indian Language (MIL). NAS 2021 covered over 34 lakh students from 1.18 lakh schools, including Govt. schools, from across 720 districts in India, and served as a key diagnostic tool to identify changes in learning outcomes vis-à-vis previous rounds of NAS. National, State and District level reports from NAS 2021 are available at https://parakh.ncert.gov.in/nas-dashboard .More recently, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 was conducted by the National Assessment Centre, PARAKH, NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education to understand the baseline performance under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in development of competencies among students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory and Middle Stages (Grades 3, 6 and 9 respectively) of schooling. Nationwide over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers and school leaders from more than 74,000 schools, including Govt. schools, in 781 districts participated in the assessment. National, State and District level reports for PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en, a dedicated dashboard designed to disseminate the findings of the assessment. (b): The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education has developed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the States and Union Territories. Due to migration of children between regions, dropout rates, defined as the proportion of pupil from a cohort enrolled at a given level in a given school year who are no longer enrolled at any grade in the following school year, is captured in UDISE+ at the National rather than regional level. As per UDISE+, dropout rates at the All-India level for the years 2022-23 and 2023-24 is as given below: 2022-23 2023-2024 Primary Upper Secondary Primary Upper Secondary Primary Primary (Class 1 to (Class 9-(Class 1 to (Class 9- (Class 6-Class Class (Class 6-Class Class 5) Class 5) Class 10) 8) 10) 8) 7.8 8.1 16.4 1.9 5.2 14.1 Also, based on the recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), w.e.f 2022-23 UDISE+ has been revitalized, to capture individual student wise data and created student’s registry. There has been a complete change in the manner of collection of data from 2022-23 onwards from gross enrolment data to individual student data. It makes comparison of data from previous years statistically different/inchoate. (c) & (d): Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution with majority of schools falling under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. The Central Government assists States and UTs through Centrally Sponsored Scheme such as Samagra Shiksha, wherein financial assistance is provided with a focus on delivering quality education through different interventions which inter-alia include remedial teaching for academically weaker students, in- service training of teachers and school heads, composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment, grants for library, sports and physical activities,support for Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, ICT and digital initiatives, conduct of achievement surveys at State and National level, School Leadership Development programme etc. Under Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to States/UTs for setting up of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Labs and Smart Classrooms in Government and Government Aided Schools having classes VI to XII. The non- recurring/recurring grant under ‘ICT and Digital Initiatives’ is approved to States and UTs as per the proposals submitted by them to the Project Appraisal Board (PAB) subject to norms and guidelines of the Scheme. As per PRABANDH Portal, as on 31.05.2025, 1,76,669 ICT Labs and 1,75,936 Smart Classrooms are sanctioned to State/UT Government(s) under the Scheme. A comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education across the country. States/UTs collaborate with NCERT to utilise, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives as per their requirements. NCERT also provides regular guidance/ feedback to States/UTs on the quality of these initiatives. The key components of PM eVidya includes 200 DTH TV Channels: These channels were launched on 9th March 2024 by Hon’ble Education Minister. As per the Union Budget announcement for Financial Year 2022-23, the 12 DTH Channels have been expanded to 200 PM eVidya DTH TV Channels and 400 Radio channels to enable all States/UTs to provide supplementary education in various Indian languages including for classes 1-12. The channels have been allocated to the States/UTs and Autonomous Bodies under an MoU with NCERT and are operational. Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) the Nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in States/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades (One Nation, One Digital platform). Overall, 564.05 crore learning sessions have been completed on DIKSHA by students, teachers and other stakeholders.The stakeholders have access to more than 300 Virtual Labs on DIKSHA. Also, the Union Budget 2025 includes a provision under the BharatNet project to extend broadband connectivity to government secondary schools in a phased manner. National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 integrate the mental well-being of students in different aspects such as syllabi development, development of content in learning and teaching material, pedagogical practices etc. Besides the above, ‘Manodarpan’, an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MoE) under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, implemented and monitored by NCERT, aims at creating a safe and supportive environment for students to thrive both academically and emotionally. Several activities are undertaken through Manodarpan to promote mental health and well-being amongst students in schools. These include running National toll-free helpline (844-844-0632), providing guidance through Manodarpan webpage (https://manodarpan.education.gov.in/),conducting of surveys namely ‘Survey on Mental Health and Well-being of School Students’ and ‘Teachers Mental Well Being Survey’, facilitating celebration of Mental Health Week (4th- 10th October) and World Mental Health Day (10th October) across the country and development of materials and guidelines on mental well-being. Additionally, 'Sahyog' sessions are conducted from Monday to Friday, offering live interactions with practicing counsellors for students in classes VI-XII. These are supplemented by 'Paricharcha' webinars on Fridays, featuring experts discussing mental health and well-being, which are broadcasted through PM e-Vidya channels and the NCERT Official YouTube Channel. In order to address stress, anxiety etc. among students, various initiatives such as sensitisation through talks in morning assembly, adolescence education programmes, yoga, games and sports, scouts and guides, NCC, Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat, Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, Provision of 10 Bagless days for students and Kala Utsav etc. are also taken up by many schools. Students are also involved in setting up School Nutrition Gardens (SNGs) through which they learn life skills and remain connected to nature. Hon’ble Prime Minister conceptualised a unique interactive programme – ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha (PPC)’ wherein students, parents, teachers across the Nation and also from overseas interact with the Hon’ble Prime Minister to discuss and overcome the stress emerging from examinations in order to celebrate life as an Utsav. So far 8 PPC events have been organised by the Ministry of Education. Separately, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States (Tele MANAS) a toll-free mental health helpline (1800-89-14416 or short code 14416) that provides support and assistance to those struggling with mental health issues. *****