Almost 50% Of Students Commute To School On Foot In India: NAS 2021 Data

A minimum of 48 per cent of students all over India commute to school on foot. In comparison, 9 percent of them use school transport, as per the National Achievement Survey (NAS)-2021 done by the Union Education Ministry. This survey also claims how at least 25 percent of schools face a lack of parental support in students' learning. In the survey, approximately 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 different districts from both urban and rural areas took part. The NAS was done nationwide for Classes 3, 5, 8 and 10 on November 12, 2021. The previous NAS was conducted way back in 2017.

As per the survey, 48 per cent of students commute to school on foot, and 18 per cent use a bicycle. It also revealed that the total percentage of students using the school and public transport is around 9 per cent each.

Meanwhile, 8 per cent of students commute to school via their own transport (two-wheeler) while just 3 per cent of them come to school using their own four-wheeler, it added.

"Eighty-seven per cent schools provide guidance on how parents can support children in learning while 25 per cent of them claimed to be facing a lack of support from parents in students' learning," the report was quoted as saying by NDTV.

Major Findings From The Survey

The National Achievement Survey covered government, government-aided and private schools in their study. The subjects in the study covered were Mathematics, Language and EVS for classes 3 and 5; Science, Language, Social Science and Mathematics for class 8 and English, Mathematics, Science, Language and Social Science for Class 10.

The achievement tests and the questionnaires -- pupil questionnaire, teacher questionnaire, and school questionnaire -- were developed and translated into 22 different languages by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

The CBSE administered this nationwide survey on one single day simultaneously. This entire survey was fully managed through the technology platform designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). As per the survey, only 51 per cent of students also confirmed the availability of books or magazines for parents at home, while 89 per cent of students share the lessons taught in schools with family members.

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