The overall performance of schools in Assam has picked up after a post-Covid slump in 2022, but tribal districts trail behind the rest, according to the findings of a state-wide learning outcomes assessment programme carried out by the state government.

Gunotsav 2023 is the latest iteration of a programme aimed at assessing specific learning outcomes at the elementary and secondary levels in government, provincialised, tea garden management and model schools, introduced by the Assam government in 2017. In this programme, schools are graded through self-evaluation and external evaluation on scholastic, co-scholastic and community participation parameters. In the scholastic area, students of classes I to IX were tested in reading, writing and numeracy. Through this, schools are graded either as A+ (a score of 86.5% and above), A (73.5-86.49%), B (60.50-73.49%), C (48.5-60.49%) or D (0-48.49%).

Of the 41,507 schools which were assessed through this exercise in 2023, 28.64% were graded A+, which is a significant jump from 2022, when only 11.56% schools were awarded the top grade. The assessment in 2022 was the first to have been conducted after the pandemic, and the result reflected the challenges of that period. Before that, the last assessment had been conducted in 2018, when 23.01% schools had been graded A+.

However, the Gunotsav results also revealed a wide disparity between different districts. The three top performing districts — all from Upper Assam — were Sivasagar, Charaideo and Golaghat, with 71.88%, 53.25% and 49.24% schools graded A+ respectively. The three poorest performing districts – West Karbi Anglong, Chirang and Karbi Anglong – were from Sixth Schedule areas. Only 5.67% of assessed schools in West Karbi Anglong were graded A+, and in Chirang and Karbi Anglong the percentage of schools with the top grade were 10.03% and 11.59% respectively. Other Sixth Schedule area districts such as Kokrajhar (12.09% of assessed schools got A+), Udalguri (13.87%) and Dima Hasao (16.84%) also trailed.

Conversely, while 1.85% of schools across the state were graded D, it was 11.5% in West Karbi Anglong, 4.31% in Chirang and 5.67% in Karbi Anglong. While these three districts account for 6.24% of schools assessed across the state, they account for 22.56% of the ones graded D.

This disparity was acknowledged by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while declaring the results of the programme.

“There is a cause for concern which is emerging repeatedly in the result of Gunotsav and the education department needs to reflect on the extent to which we have been able to take corrective measures. That is the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council Area. We need to identify if there’s a problem with the appointment of teachers, or if teachers don’t go to schools, or if enough teachers don’t go. West Karbi Anglong and Karbi Anglong are constantly in the last position for four years. Education teams should go to these districts and do a micro-analysis to identify what the problem areas are,” he said.

Apart from these districts, Sarma stated that the next step would be “continuous monitoring” of all schools graded C and D.

“Almost 80% of the schools in the state are in the category of schools graded A+ and A, which is a matter of happiness for us… In the next three months, in the schools graded C and D, an external evaluator should go and talk to the teachers of those schools to understand what the reason is for the result. It might emerge that there are not requisite teachers, maybe study materials did not reach on time. We should have constant mentoring over these schools over this year… If we permanently attach an official to the school, then these schools will also have a good result in the next grading… This is not punitive but for mentoring,” he said.