Assessment Reforms

NEP 2020 shifts assessment from summative judgement to regular, formative, competency-based assessment. The aim is to test understanding and application rather than memorisation, and to make assessment a tool for improving learning instead of a device for sorting children.

The main assessment changes

• Assessment to be competency-based, testing higher-order thinking, analysis and application rather than recall.
• A 360-degree Holistic Progress Card with inputs from the child herself, from peers and from teachers, replacing a bare mark sheet.
• School-based census examinations in Grades 3, 5 and 8 to track foundational and later learning.
• Board examinations to continue for Grades 10 and 12 but to be redesigned and offered twice in a year, so that a student may take the better result.
• A national assessment centre, PARAKH, to set norms and guidelines for student assessment across boards.
• The National Achievement Survey to continue as a sample-based check on system health.

The holistic progress card

The card is designed to report far more than marks: progress in cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, self-assessment by the child, peer assessment, and the teacher's observations. It matches CCE in spirit and turns the report into a description of the learner rather than a ranking of the class.

Why the change was needed

Under the old system a child could pass every class and still not read a simple paragraph, because assessment tested memory of textbook lines rather than the ability to use what was learnt. The policy therefore ties assessment to competencies and learning outcomes, so that a test result says what a child can actually do and points the teacher to the next step.

What it asks of a primary teacher

• Set questions that require explanation and application, not definitions.
• Record observations across the year instead of relying on one test.
• Involve children in judging their own work against a shared standard.
• Report progress in words the parent can act on.

✗ NEP 2020 abolishes board examinations.  |  ✓ It retains them for Grades 10 and 12 but redesigns them and allows two attempts in a year.

Frequently asked questions

In which grades does NEP 2020 propose school examinations?

In Grades 3, 5 and 8, as school-based census examinations to check learning at key points. Board examinations continue at Grades 10 and 12, redesigned and offered twice in a school year.

What is the holistic progress card?

A 360-degree report on a child that includes self-assessment, peer assessment and teacher observation across cognitive, affective and psychomotor development, replacing a report that carries only subject marks.

What is PARAKH under NEP 2020?

A national assessment centre set up to establish norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation across school boards in the country, and to guide the shift to competency-based assessment.