By Rahul Chaudhary* “True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth.” — Mahatma Gandhi Reports and Surveys such as the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by NGO Pratham or National Achievement Survey conducted by NCERT repeatedly point out that the learning outcomes in school children are steadily declining. There can be two aspects to this – one, that the way in which the surveys, exams or assessments are conducted should itself be taken with a pinch of salt and another, how can we improve the overall assessment process. Assessment of learning levels is a very crucial component for improving our policies as well as their proper implementation. But centralised tests that are being in place currently don’t do any good.