CHANDIGARH: The city has become Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first choice for participating in an 80-nation student assessment programme to which India had stopped going after a poor show in 2009 but will now return in 2021.
The confirmation came from human resource development ministry’s secretary for school education and literacy Rina Ray, who was here on Friday to look at the state of Chandigarh schools. The Programme for International Student Assessment or
Pisa is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (
OECD) in member and non-member nations since 2000, repeated every three years. The test evaluates educational system worldwide by measuring the scholastic performance of 15-year-olds in
science,
mathematics and reading.
In 2009, India’s first time at the contest, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu represented the country and won us 72nd position out of 74 countries. The ministry of human resource development hopes to end the system of rote learning and change the standard question paper to competency-based format of Pisa, which tests the student’s grasping of concepts.
Secretary Rina Ray said: “India did not do very well in 2009, so we were since hesitant to sit the
examination again. But then we thought if 80 countries, including China, Vietnam, and small African republics, could do well, why can’t we? The PM has decided that we are participating in the next round of Pisa. We must apply three years in advance, so we are making it for 2021.”
Asked why Chandigarh, she said: “The Indian government did an analysis of various parameters such as class assessments, infrastructure, and capabilities, and found Chandigarh to be the best state to represent India. We asked the UT administration and it agreed readily. For all schools of Chandigarh, it is a matter of pride that they have been selected.”
India’s Pisa test: PM Narendra Modi leaning on UT
