Parliament Question: Learning outcomes and school education initiatives in Punjab

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1315 ANSWERED ON – 11/02/2026 Learning outcomes and school education initiatives in Punjab 1315. Dr. Vikramjit Singh Sahney: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) whether the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan, 2024 indicates variations in learning outcomes across States including Punjab; (b) the key findings relating to foundational skills and school effectiveness in Punjab; (c) whether State-specific academic interventions are being planned based on these findings; (d) the details of implementation of PM SHRI Schools scheme in Punjab; and (e) the funds allocated and outcomes achieved so far under this scheme in the State? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (c) The Government of India, undertakes large-scale assessments to measure learning outcomes in schools across the country from time to time. In this regard, the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (formerly National Achievement Survey) was conducted by the National Assessment Centre-PARAKH, NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education to measure 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 from more than 74,000 schools across 781 districts from all States/UTs participated in the assessment. This includes 72,381 students and 8,947 teachers from 2,198 schools from all districts of Punjab. As per the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, Punjab features among the top-performing States at all three stages of schooling, achieving the highest percent scores in Language and Mathematics at the end of the foundational stage i.e in Grade 3. National, State and District level report cards for PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 providing insights on variation in learning outcomes, achievement of stage-specific competencies, including foundational skills, and suggested interventions to improve low- performing competencies, are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en, a dedicated dashboard designed to disseminate the findings of the assessment.The Department of School Education and Literacy through workshops conducted by the National Assessment Centre-PARAKH has been handholding the States including Punjab in use of assessment evidence for tailored academic reforms, capacity-building programmes and continuous improvement of learning outcomes aligned with NEP 2020. These include focused interventions for foundational literacy and numeracy strengthening, subject-specific academic support, teacher professional development, curriculum enrichment, remedial learning strategies and school-level improvement planning. On its part, the State Government of Punjab has informed of having launched Mission Samarth for all students studying in Classes III to VIII in Government schools of Punjab with the objective of strengthening the basic competencies in Language and Mathematics. Competency Enhancement Programmes have also been introduced to work upon the low performing competencies indicated in PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024. Further, the State Government of Punjab has laid a strong emphasis on teacher training and capacity building of teachers. Teachers, headmasters, and principals from the State have received training from institutions of national and international repute, including IIM Ahmedabad, the University of Turku (Finland) and the Principals Academy, Singapore. (d) & (e) A total of 356 schools have been selected from the State of Punjab in various phases to receive support under the PM SHRI scheme. The details of funds allocated to the State under the PM SHRI scheme during FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26 is as follows: (₹ in crore) Central Share of Approved Financial Year Approved PAB outlay PAB outlay 2024-25 209.46 125.68 2025-26 346.36 207.82 Note- Outlay funds include Committed Liability. Further, PM SHRI Dashboard (https://pmshri.education.gov.in/#main-content), a centralized digital platform, has been designed by the Department of School Education and Literacy, which enables monitoring of PM SHRI schools, capturing data on infrastructure, academics, teacher training and implementation of NEP 2020 initiatives. It also enables tracking of fund utilization, progress reporting and evidence-based decision making at national, state and district levels. *****