In a proud moment for Punjab, the state has become the best-performing in India in terms of student learning outcomes for Classes III, VI, and IX. Punjab has not only scripted history but it has surpassed traditionally high-performing states like Kerala, according to the Parakh Rashtriya Sarvekshan-2024 released by the Union Education Ministry on Monday.
The nationwide survey assessed foundational literacy and numeracy across government and private schools. In the Union Education Ministry's Parakh (Performance Assessment Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) Rashtriya Sarvekshan-2024, Punjab secured the highest average score of 80 in Class III, followed by Himachal Pradesh (74) and Kerala (73).
For Class VI, Punjab and Kerala shared the top spot with 67 marks each, while Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, along with Chandigarh, followed with 60 marks.
For Class IX, Punjab again took the lead with 57 marks, narrowly ahead of Kerala (56) and Chandigarh (53).
The report also outlined that girls outperformed boys in most metrics, and government schools consistently outshone private institutions. These trends point toward improved quality of public education in several states, with Punjab at the forefront.
For the unversed, the survey was conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), under the aegis of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Union Ministry of Education. This is India’s largest national educational survey, assessing the performance of the school education system every three years.
The survey covered 74,229 schools from 781 districts and witnessed participation of 2,70,424 teachers and 21,15,022 students across government, aided, and private schools.