Parliament Question: Learning loss and quality of school education

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-525 ANSWERED ON – 04/02/2026 Learning loss and quality of school education 525. Smt. Rajani Ashokrao Patil: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has conducted any comprehensive assessment to measure learning loss among school students following prolonged disruptions to classroom teaching; (b) the findings of such assessments and the State-wise details on students failing to achieve grade-appropriate foundational and subject-level competencies; (c) whether the remedial and catch-up programmes implemented under Samagra Shiksha, including NIPUN Bharat, are adequate in scale, design and coverage; and (d) the reasons why independent surveys and assessments continue to report declining or stagnant learning outcomes despite increased budgetary allocations for school education and the steps proposed to strengthen implementation, monitoring and accountability to reverse learning deficits? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (d): 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 following prolonged closure due to 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, 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 and NAS 2017, indicating comparative learning losses due to Covid, are available in the public domain 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, in 781 districts participated in the assessment. National, State and District level reports from PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, providing insights on achievement of stage-specific competencies and contextual variables affecting performance, are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en, a dedicated dashboard designed to disseminate the findings of the assessment. Through the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 dashboard, the Central Government assists States and UTs in identifying critical learning gaps at various stages and suggests possible interventions which could be taken up to plug such gaps. The survey’s findings highlight improvement in learning achievements of students at the foundational stage which indicates early success of NIPUN Bharat Mission across the Country. 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 Schemes such as Samagra Shiksha, wherein financial assistance is provided with a focus on delivering quality education and improving learning outcomes through different interventions. These inter-alia include remedial teaching and Learning Enrichment Programmes (LEP) for academically weaker students, support for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) initiatives under NIPUN Bharat Mission, and composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment. To ensure interventions under Samagra Shiksha remain adequate in scale, design and coverage and responsive to local context, Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) are prepared by respective States and UTs based on their requirements and priorities. These plans are then appraised and approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) in consultation with the States and UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme. The implementation of the scheme is regularly monitored through digital platforms/MIS such as PRABANDH, UDISE+ and Vidya Samiksha Kendras (VSK) and by conducting periodic review meetings with States & UTs. Further, tools such as the Performance Grading Index (PGI) (https://pgi.udiseplus.gov.in/#/statepgi/home) are leveraged to evaluate the performance of the school education system across States and UTs, thus strengthening transparency and accountability. *****