Nearly half of school-aged children in India travel to their respective schools on foot. A vast majority — 48 percent — of college students go to school on foot, followed by 18 percent of students who cycle to school, reveals the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report, conducted by the Department of School Education and Literacy. , Ministry of Education.
A very limited number of pupils in classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 opt for transport through school. Schools usually have buses for students, but the survey shows that 9 percent of students opt for school buses. An equal number of students — 9 percent — go to school by public transportation, while only 8 percent use a family-owned two-wheeler and 3 percent own their own four-wheeler to commute to and from school, the report said.
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About 34 lakh students from 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas participated in NAS 2021. The survey assesses the health of the school education system in the country by conducting a comprehensive assessment survey of children’s learning competences in classrooms 3, 5, 8 and 10 with a three year cycle period. The last NAS took place in 2017.
Students prefer to learn at school
The report goes on to say that a vast majority of 78 percent of students found learning at home during the pandemic-led school closure as challenging and task-intensive, and 80 percent said they learn better at school with help from peers. Furthermore, 24 percent of students had no access to devices and 38 percent had difficulty learning during the period. India had closed its schools in mid-March to contain the spread of Covid-19 and schools will be allowed to reopen in person from next academic year, but with restrictions.
Schooling 2.0 is different from the ‘normal’. Students are required to wear masks, maintain social distancing, school crowds are restricted in schools, among other covid-19 appropriate behavior.
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