After exhibiting considerable reluctance in the past, the government of India has finally decided to participate in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a triennial test developed in 1997, which has been comparatively testing secondary school children around the world since 2000. The Union ministry of human resource develop-ment, which will coordinate the programme in India, has appointed the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) as the nodal agency, while the State Council(s) of Education Research and Training (SCERT) will implement the programme at the state level. The project is being partly funded by the World Bank and the government of India.
Tamil Nadu (pop. 62 million) is one of the four states chosen to participate in the PISA pilot study commencing early next year, the other three being Karnataka, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. According to sources within the state government’s education department, the ruling DMK government readily agreed to participate in this challenging test, as the quality of science and math education is the pride of this southern seaboard state, and students are expected to perform well. Almost 5,000 students from the four states will write a pilot PISA test early next year. Data collected from the study will be analysed by the international PISA consortium to standardise assessment tools for the main survey, which will be conducted in 2010 with 6,000 students from 170 schools writing the test.
PISA, which was introduced in the year 2000, assesses maths, reading and science literacy of 15-year-olds. Coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), though each three-year PISA cycle focuses on one particular subject, it also tests the other two subjects. In 2006, 57 countries participated in this international test which focused on science literacy, and around 63 countries are expected to participate in PISA 2009 which will focus on reading literacy.
Given that Tamil Nadu is on the verge of introducing a common board and syllabus to replace the state’s four school examination boards — the Tamil Nadu Secondary School Leaving Certificate Examination, Anglo Indian School Certificate, Matriculation Schools and Oriental School Leaving Certificate — the PISA field trial will serve as a good indicator of student abilities in schools affiliated with various boards inter se, and how their learning outcomes compare with those of 15-year-olds around the world.
In the absence of any major national assessment of secondary students, educationists in Chennai believe that the PISA test will serve to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Tamil Nadu’s much vaunted school system. “It is important for us to know in what subjects our children are above or below the global average and where we need to improve. This will enable us to focus on subjects in which they are weak. However, in Tamil Nadu we may not get the desired results as most of our schools don’t focus on developing thinking, analysis and communication skills. The PISA evaluation exercise tests these skills,” says K.R. Malathy, education consultant, teacher trainer and centre director/master franchisee of Kip Mcgrath Worldwide Education Centre, Chennai.
However, schools in Chennai are confident of performing well in PISA and have welcomed the test. “Skills-based tests such as PISA will enable us to make requisite changes in our teaching/learning methodologies. Already, many schools are moving away from archaic pedagogies and introdu-cing activity and project oriented learning, so, we are well prepared for PISA,” says M.Vijayalakshmi, principal, Alpha Matriculation School, Chennai.
Quite clearly, international tests such as PISA, which evaluate and compare the learning outcomes of Indian students against their counterparts abroad, are necessary in the rapidly globalising Indian economy. The warm welcome given to India’s participation in PISA reflects a new confidence and maturity in Indian school education.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)