'Students haven’t been in school to be assessed': Maharashtra teachers criticise NAS

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The National Assessment Survey (NAS) exam, which is aimed at assessing the learning skills of students from Std III, V, VIII and X, has come under the scanner after educationists across Maharashtra criticised the state's decision to participate in it on November 12. Questioning the credibility of the test this year, teachers are pointing out that it is unfair to gauge understanding levels of students when they have been away from school for over one-and-a-half years, and in many parts of Maharashtra, classes for Std III and V have not even begun yet.

This exam, in fact, is one of the reasons why the schedule of Diwali vacation had to be changed, and the state education department faced a lot of flak. But the test is expected to be held as per schedule, which many students are likely to miss. According to teachers, in conditions where half of the students cannot appear for the exam and remaining cannot perform well due to huge academic loss, the survey is going to show Maharashtra in a bad light, which will not be fair.

"What do you assess children for when they haven't been taught? Even as online learning was a most-used option during the pandemic, the fact is that several students have faced huge academic losses due to limited access," shared a principal of a Bandra school. "Younger students are not only away from school but also out of station in many cases. Many will miss NAS. In that case, how reliable will the result of this test be?" asked Aamir Ansari, teacher from a BMC school.