PARAKH- The Indian express-02-09-2022

GS-2
GOVERNANCE
CONTEXT:
PARAKH would facilitate the sharing of best practices across educational institutions and guarantee that academic expectations are consistent across all school boards.

PRELIM AND MAINS:

Objectives of PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) (a constituent unit of NCERT):

PARAKH will focus on developing standards, criteria, and recommendations for student evaluation and assessment for all recognized school boards in India, as well as supervising achievement surveys and monitoring learning outcome achievement throughout the nation.
Holding periodic learning outcome tests like the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and State Achievement Surveys.
Set norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognised school boards in India
Encourage and help school boards to shift their assessment patterns towards meeting the skill requirements of the 21st century.
Tackle the problem of students of some state boards being at a disadvantage during college admissions as compared to their peers in CBSE schools.
Develop and implement “technical standards for the design, conduct, analysis and reporting” of tests at all levels of school education
PARAKH would facilitate the sharing of best practices across educational institutions and guarantee that academic expectations are consistent across all school boards.
Presently, different state and central boards follow different standards of evaluation, leading to wide disparities in scores and confusion among universities to set admission criteria.