PROGRAMME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ASSESSMENT (PISA)

About: 

• Full name: PISA is an acronym for Program for International Student Assessment. 
  
  
• Origin: it is a triennial international survey which was first administered in 2000. 
  
  
• Coordinated by: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). 
  
  
• Objective: It assesses the quality of education systems across the world by evaluating students in science, mathematics and reading. 
  
  
• What does it measure? PISA is a competency-based assessment which unlike content-based assessment, measures the extent to which students have acquired key competencies that are essential for full participation in modern societies. 
  
  
• Criteria: 
  • The two-hour computer-based test focuses on 15-year-old students as they have either completed or are near the end of their compulsory education in most countries. 
    
    
  • PISA requires the examinees to have finished at least six years of formal schooling. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Participation in PISA: 
  • About 5.5 lakh students in 72 countries took the test in 2015. 
    
    
  • However, many non-OECD members including all SAARC nations, Greenland, Argentina and the entire African continent (except Algeria and Tunisia) either don’t regularly participate or haven’t participated at all in PISA. 
    
    
  • Till date, India has participated only once in PISA in 2009. 
    
    
  
  
  
• Benefits of recent agreement: 
  • Learnings from participation in PISA will help to introduce competency-based examination reforms in the school system and help move away from rote learning. 
    
    
  • The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will be part of the process and activities leading to the actual test.