Assam: Only 26% of Schools hold Periodic Assessment Test in State

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Only 26% of the schools directed by Samagra Shiksha, Assam (SSA) to conduct the Periodic Assessment Test (PAT) between October 14 and November 4, 2024, have held the exam, leading to consternation in the state Education Department.

Of the total of 44,866 schools in the state, only 11,982 schools complied with the direction from the SSA and conducted the PAT.

The weekly Periodic Assessment Test (PAT) helps to track the performance of the students regularly. Teachers find out the gaps in the learning of the students and provide necessary support and adjust their lesson plan accordingly. PATs provide teachers with information about students’ strengths and weaknesses and how they’re progressing over time. This helps teachers improve instruction, set curricular targets, and provide remedial teaching.

The SSA directed all the schools under it to conduct the PAT from October 14, 2024, and one mock test on November 25, 2024. However, the schools did not take the direction from SSA seriously, and only 26% adhered to it and held the PAT. It remains to be seen how the schools react to the direction for the mock test on November 25.

Schools in some districts markedly ignored the direction. In South Salmara-Mankachar district, only 75 out of 422 schools conducted PAT; in Chirang district, only 80 of the 917 schools; in Hailakandi district, 122 of 1259 schools; in West Karbi Anglong, 154 of 703 schools; in Kokrajhar, 170 of the 1747 schools; in Karbi Anglong, 170 of 1283 schools; in Hojai, 138 of 983 schools; in Nalbari, 287 of 1092 schools; in Kamrup (Metro) district, 273 of 653 schools held the PAT, among others. The figures indicate how seriously the schools took the PAT.

A notification by SSA regarding the PAT did not go down well with the teachers. Only five students from each class were to be selected for the test. Most of the teachers found it discriminatory as it deprived the other students of being so evaluated, they stated.

Moreover, the schools did not get enough time to organize the test, as the notification was issued in the first part of October and the schools were closed for Durga Puja. The test was scheduled to be held on October 14, the very day the schools reopened after the Puja vacation.

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