Grades Two, Four assessments already showing favourable results – Parag

Education Minister Sonia Parag has said that the preliminary results from the country’s first-ever literacy assessment for grades two and four are showing better-than-expected outcomes.

Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, the minister said that the exams conducted just a month ago are an important diagnostic tool and she cautioned that a number of schools will need targeted support. The Grades Two and Four assessments conducted are done for the core subjects – Math, English Language, Science and Social-Studies, however, this year, the Literacy Assessment was introduced.

According to Parag, the ministry now has results that will guide its work.

“What we’ve seen is not as alarming as we thought it would have been. “That’s a great thing. However, there are some schools that we need to work with,” the minister said.

This is the first year the ministry has conducted literacy assessments at both grade levels. The overall grade assessments were also halted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parag said the Grade Two assessment functions as a diagnostic tool to determine where each child stands in reading and comprehension.

“We want by Grade Four that all students would be in a position to read and comprehend what they’re reading, so that it allows them to be fully literate heading into secondary school,” she said.

Parag said stronger comprehension should translate into improved results across other subjects, since students will better understand what exam questions are asking of them.

On next steps, she said the ministry plans to group students by their needs and to support teachers where needed.

“What we plan to do after this is to categorise, but not in a way that separates students from each other, but to allow the teacher to know which groups of students she or he needs to work with a bit more,” Parag said.

She said the ministry is also considering additional staffing support for teachers handling students who need extra help.

A full review of results across all regions and schools is still to come.

“The idea of this is not to diminish anyone’s confidence in themselves, but it’s actually to build that up,” she said.