PARAKH

Why in news?

• Recently, the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) has notified India’s first national assessment regulator, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), which aims to set up assessment guidelines for all boards.

About PARAKH:

• PARAKH has been launched as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 that envisaged a standard-setting body to advise school boards regarding new assessment patterns and latest research, and promote collaborations between them.
• It will act as a constituent unit of the NCERT.
• It will also be tasked with holding periodic learning outcome tests like the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and State Achievement Surveys.
• It will work on three major assessment areas: large-scale assessments, school-based assessment, and examination reforms.

Objective:

• Uniform Norms & Guidelines:
  • Setting norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognized school boards of India.
• Enhance Assessment Pattern:
  • It will encourage and help school boards to shift their assessment patterns towards meeting the skill requirements of the 21st century.
• Reduce Disparity in Evaluation:
  • It will bring uniformity across the state and central boards which currently follow different standards of evaluation, leading to wide disparities in scores.
• Benchmark Assessment:
  • The benchmark assessment framework will seek to put an end to the emphasis on rote learning, as envisaged by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020..

PRACTICE QUESTION

‘PARAKH’, recently launched by the Government, is associated with which of the following sector?

(a) Education

(b) Health

(c) Energy

(d) Agriculture

Answer