‘Nat’l assessment regulator to bring uniformity in school board

India’s first national assessment regulator PARAKH will bring the much-needed uniformity in assessment by more than 60 boards in the country, Educational Testing Service (ETS) CEO Amit Sevak has said. ETS, which conducts key tests such as TOEFL and GRE, has been chosen by the National Council for Education Research (NCERT) for setting up the regulatory platform. The Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH) will work on setting norms, standards and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation for all recognised school boards in the country. “PARAKH will be an independent organisation affiliated to the Education Ministry which will be looking into three major areas – large-scale assessment like the National Achievement Survey, school-based assessments and thirdly capacity building. “The first step is to develop some norms and standardised guidelines for assessment including summative tests and constant new forms of assessing students,” Sevak said.