Nagaland Education Mission Society, Samagra Shiksha Nagaland organised a One-Day Workshop for Post National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 & Foundational Learning Study (FLS) 2022 at Capital Convention Hall, Kohima on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering, Commissioner & Secretary School Education, SCERT & Vice Chairman NEMS Kevileno Angami said the National Achievement Survey (NAS) which is an assessment of the health of the education system was carried by the State officers and teachers from government schools, spreading across both private and government, in 910 schools, involving 5507 teachers and 28,995 students.

While highlighting the importance of NAS she said, NAS indicates the learning outcomes in various subjects. Angami also remarked the launching of National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) in the state by the Chief Minister in December 2021 with the mission to focus on improving the Foundational literacy of the state.

She informed that Foundational Learning Survey (FLS) in line with NIPUN was conducted to assess the learning outcome in grade 3 and this was carried out in 75 schools involving 146 teachers and 669 children.

“We conducted so we are aware and assess our stand, achievement and identify the learning gap and accordingly provide the necessary intervention so that these gaps are bridged, and we are able to carry forward in enabling our children to learn, to read and ultimately to read to learn” Kevileno Angami said. “All of us here work towards building children, nurturing children, children who are educated, children who will grow up to be citizens who can comprehend and who can also be responsible citizens to the state and to the country”.

She also stressed on the importance of foundational learning and emphasised on the role of education administrators, managers, coordinators, head of schools and all people who transact teachings and learning in the school and said, “the school education sector in the state has lot of challenges and issues but when we work together it is possible to overcome the challenges”.

“Create a bright eco system for the children of the future” she added.

In her keynote address, Keviraleü Kerhuo, Director, SCERT emphasised on the aims and significance of the NAS and FLS in the education system and said, both nationally and at state level girls performance remained better than boys.

She informed that NAS was conducted throughout the country on 13 November 2017 for classes 3, 5 and 8 in government and government aided schools for the subject Mathematics, Language, Social Sciences and Science and on 12 November 2021, the survey was conducted by Central Board of Secondary Education.

“It has helped us to understand the progress towards achieving the learning outcomes and also suggest ways to improve the learning levels of our children,” Kerhuo added.

In the key highlights of NAS 2021 she pointed the decline of students percentage of class 3 that plummeted by 10% to 49% in class 5. It further declined to 41.9% in class 8 and 37.8% in class 10 and the Social-Group Wise Performance of ST/SC and OBC categories remained lower than that of students from the general category.

National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) was launched and announced as a national mission to enable all children at the end of Grade 3 to attain foundational skills by the year 2026-2027 by the Ministry of Education as a crucial step towards strengthening efforts for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN). In Nagaland out of 75 schools, 669 students and 146 teachers participated in the Foundational Learning Study that was undertaken by NCERT in March 2022.

At the national level, approximately 86,000 grade 3 students from 10,000 schools were covered with the study sample that included State government schools, Government aided schools, private recognised schools, and central government schools. FLS was conducted in 20 language which are being used as medium of instruction in various States/UTs.

NAS is the largest nationwide survey-based education conducted across India that aims to achieve Universal Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Primary classes. The survey ensure that all children attain grade level competencies in reading, writing and numeracy by providing a system level reflection on the effectiveness of school education.

NAS and FLS finding provides a comprehensive picture of student’s learning across the country and in every state and understanding of student’s knowledge, skills and performances on key task plans provided policy planners with information to devise strategy and allocate resources to strengthen poor performance.

The inaugural session of the workshop was chaired by Kelhikha Kenye, Deputy Mission Director, Samagra Shiksha Nagaland.