The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has called on states and Union territories to adopt the Holistic Progress Card (HPC) this year as part of the National Education Policy 2020. This initiative aims to provide “multidimensional progress monitoring” for students up to class 8, officials reported.
Developed by PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a national assessment center under NCERT, the HPC is designed for the foundational stage (classes 1 and 2), the preparatory stage (classes 3 to 5), and the middle stage (classes 6 to 8). This progress card incorporates feedback from peers, parents, and self-assessment by students to monitor their development in various domains throughout the academic year.
Indrani Bhaduri, CEO of PARAKH, described the HPC as a comprehensive assessment tool that documents students’ achievements across physical, socio-emotional, literacy, and academic areas. The HPC aims to foster a closer connection between home and school, facilitated by regular parent-teacher meetings to engage parents actively in their children’s education and development.
To prepare for nationwide implementation, PARAKH has trained faculty from state councils of educational research and training, district institute educators, and 100 teachers from each state as master trainers. Bhaduri acknowledged the scale of the task, noting that reaching approximately one crore (10 million) teachers will require significant time and effort. States are now tasked with further training their teachers using these master trainers.
Efforts are also underway to digitize the HPC and expand its framework to classes 9 to 12. Many states are translating the HPC into regional languages, with Hindi translations completed by Haryana, Chandigarh, and Chhattisgarh, and Marathi translations in progress in Maharashtra.
A Haryana school education department official highlighted the progressive nature of the HPC but acknowledged the challenges in its implementation. The official emphasized the need for extensive teacher training and parental awareness, suggesting a phased rollout to ensure effective adoption of the HPC across schools.
