48% students commute to school on foot, many schools lack parental support in learning: MoE survey

 At least 48 percent students across the country commute to school on foot while nine percent of them use school transport, according to the National Achievement Survey (NAS)-2021 conducted by the Union Education Ministry. The survey also pointed out that at least 25 percent schools face lack of parental support in students' learning.

About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas participated in the survey. The NAS was conducted throughout the country for classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 on November 12 last year. The last NAS was held in 2017.

According to the survey, 48 percent students commute to school on foot while 18 percent of them use bicycle. The percentage of students using school transport and public transport is nine percent each, according to the survey. Eight percent students commute to school using own transport (two-wheeler) while only three percent of them commute to school using own four-wheeler, it said.

"Eighty-seven percent schools provide guidance on how parents can support children in learning while 25 percent of them claimed to be facing lack of support from parents in students' learning," the report said.

The NAS covered government, government-aided and private schools. The subjects covered were Language, Mathematics and EVS for classes 3 and 5; Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Science for class 8 and Language, Mathematics, Science, Social Science and English for class 10.

The achievement tests along with the questionnaires -- pupil questionnaire, teacher questionnaire and school questionnaire -- were developed and translated in 22 different languages by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

This nationwide survey was administered by the CBSE in one single day at the same time. The survey was managed through the technology platform designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC).

According to the survey, only 51 percent students confirmed availability of books or magazines for parents at home and 89 per cent students share the lessons taught in schools with family members.