1st State Education Achievement Survey to be conducted on Nov 3, to cover 11 million school students
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New Delhi(PTI): The first State Education Achievement Survey will be conducted on November 3 by the national assessment regulator PARAKH and will cover 11 million students across the country, according to officials.
The survey aimed at identifying areas requiring improvement in learning will be held across states, targeting school students up to the block level. It will be a precursor to the Education Ministry's annual National Achievement Survey (NAS), which is conducted at the district level.
Officials familiar with the development told PTI that it will be the first survey conducted by the Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH), an organisation under the NCERT.
It is tasked with bringing the school boards across the states and the Union territories on a common platform.
Scheduled for November 3, SEAS (State Education Achievement Survey) 2023 has been designed to enhance the learning standards for students in Classes 3, 6 and 9. Operating at the block level, this survey encompasses a comprehensive range of competencies, spanning the foundational, preparatory, and middle stages of education.
According to the officials, SEAS will represent a distinctive and baseline assessment, marking a gradual shift from rote learning to competency-based education.
The adoption of competency-based learning holds the potential to foster the holistic development of students, they said, adding that these efforts are dedicated to nurturing the well-rounded growth of future generations. This survey will prove invaluable in realising this aspiration, the officials said.
"At the heart of this endeavour is the belief that every child deserves a well-rounded education. Our competency-based assessment system aims to assess not just what students know but also how well they can apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios," head and CEO of PARAKH Indrani Bhaduri said.
Bhaduri also heads the NAS cell at the NCERT which conducts the crucial national level large-scale assessment to obtain information about the learning achievement of students of Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 studying in state government schools, government-aided schools, private unaided and central government schools.
The ETS, which conducts key tests such as TOEFL and GRE, was chosen by the National Council for Education Research (NCERT) for setting up the regulatory platform.
Sachin Jain, country manager of ETS India and South Asia, said, "By joining forces with the NCERT, we are committed to fortifying the assessment process, ensuring its robustness, and elevating the quality of large-scale surveys in the educational sector."
"The shared objective is to provide accurate, equitable, and insightful assessments, empowering educators, and policy-makers to make informed decisions that will shape the future of education in India," he added.
A reform outlined in the new National Education Policy (NEP), PARAKH will set up assessment guidelines for all boards to help remove disparities in scores of students enrolled with different state boards.
In partnership with states and Union territories, PARAKH is working towards assessing more than 11 million students nationwide.
"This effort yields invaluable data and insights, which can be harnessed to craft precise interventions at the block level, effectively tackling specific challenges and promoting inclusive development. Ultimately, this endeavour paves the way for a brighter and more equitable future for students throughout the nation," the official said.
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Standoff between Delhi, Shimla police after arrest of 3 Youth Congress activists
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Shimla/New Delhi (PTI): In an ugly face-off, Himachal Pradesh police on Wednesday registered a kidnapping case against Delhi police personnel and "detained" their vehicles at the Shogi border near Shimla when they were heading back to the national capital with three Youth Congress members arrested in connection with the "shirtless protest" at the AI Summit.
"A case has been registered against 15-20 unknown people in plain clothes for forcibly taking three people staying in a resort in Rohru. They also took the CCTV installed in the resort with them and did not give any receipt," a statement issued by the Shimla police said.
The Delhi police had earlier on Wednesday said it had arrested three Youth Congress activists in connection with the February 20 protest at AI Impact Summit from a hotel in Chirgaon area of Rohru subdivision of Himachal's Shimla district.
Saurabh, Siddharth and Arbaz were apprehended by the Special Cell of Delhi Police. They were produced before a local court, which granted transit remand to enable the police to bring them to Delhi for further questioning, an official of the Delhi police said in the national capital.
Himachal Police sources claimed they intercepted three vehicles in Shimla and Solan districts and brought them back to Shimla as the Delhi police had not taken transit remand.
Both the Shimla police and the Delhi police accused each other of hampering the investigation.
The sources in Himachal Pradesh police claimed the team from Delhi carried out the operation in Shimla without informing the local police.
Acting on this, Himachal Pradesh police intercepted three vehicles carrying the accused -- who are reportedly not residents of Himachal Pradesh -- and Delhi Police personnel.
Two vehicles were stopped in Shimla, while the third was intercepted near Dharampur in Solan district. Around 20 people, including police personnel, were detained, the source said.
The Delhi police personnel again tried to leave for the national capital but were intercepted at Shogi border on Wednesday night on the road to Chandigarh and not allowed to leave.
In a video that appeared from the Shogi border in the suburbs of Shimla city, the Delhi police officers were heard saying that they had arrested three people in the morning in connection with an FIR registered on February 20.
VIDEO | Shimla: A jurisdiction dispute has erupted after the Delhi Police detained three Youth Congress workers in connection with an AI Summit protest pic.twitter.com/H7o7eaYOb8
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) February 25, 2026
"We have to produce the accused arrested at 5 am today in the court in 24 hours, and you have stopped us after registering an FIR at 8 pm," an officer of the Delhi police said.
However, the Shimla police officers maintained that a case of abduction has been registered and the Delhi police is hampering the investigation.
They alleged that the Delhi police carried out an illegal operation at Rohru without informing the local police and no papers of arrest were shown.
"I asked you for a legal document in the morning, but neither have you shown any document nor the FIR number and nor have you taken the transit remand," the officer of Shimla police is heard saying.
The "shirtless" protest at Bharat Mandapam on February 20 had triggered a major security response, with police earlier invoking charges including rioting and promoting enmity under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib and former national spokesperson Bhudev Sharma were arrested in connection with the case on Tuesday. Both were produced before a Delhi court and remanded to police custody for interrogation.
According to the Delhi police, a total of 11 people have been arrested so far.
Earlier, on Saturday midnight, Delhi Police had raided Himachal Sadan in the national capital amid reports that Youth Congress workers who had participated in the protest were provided accommodation there.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had termed the action "unfortunate and against constitutional procedure".
A Delhi court on Wednesday extended by four days the police custody of five of the arrested in the case.
Arguing that the incident was not spontaneous but executed after prior planning, the Delhi police said that the initial probe revealed structured allocation of roles, concealment tactics and coordinated post-incident movement.
It, however, said that the entire conspiracy, including its hierarchy, funding and inter-state coordination, needed to be unearthed.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Mridul Gupta extended the custodial interrogation of the accused -- Krishna Hari, national secretary of the Youth Congress from Bihar; Kundan Yadav, state general secretary of Bihar; Ajay Kumar Singh, state vice-president of eastern Uttar Pradesh; and Narasimha Yadav, national coordinator of IYC from Telangana.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police on Wednesday denied permission to the Delhi Youth Congress to hold a dharna at Jantar Mantar in national capital on February 26, citing short notice and prevailing law and order concerns.
The Delhi Youth Congress had called the dharna on Thursday against the police action on IYC members who had taken part in the February 20 protest.
