AI-driven assessment of reading fluency covers 35L students in Raj

Jaipur: The education department assessed more than 35 lakh students from grades 3-8 in govt schools under an oral reading fluency (ORF) campaign that utilised artificial intelligence (AI) tools for evaluation. The department shared details on Monday of the statewide campaign, which was carried out as a baseline survey in May last year and marked the first use of AI in govt efforts to enhance students' reading proficiency.The end-line assessment for the ORF campaign was conducted Jan 19-29 this year, and results are yet to be released.ORF is an artificial intelligence (AI)-based initiative that analyses students' reading skills by recording their voices. Under this programme, each student is provided, via a dedicated mobile application, with engaging reading material tailored to their specific proficiency level, which they are required to read within a stipulated timeframe.According to reading proficiency, the students were classified into 4 categories: Beej (seed), with 5,59,000 students; Ankuran (germination), 7,78,000 students; ‘Pushpan' (flowering), 8,51,000 students; and ‘Phalan' (fruiting), 13,55,000 students.Beej category comprises students who experience difficulty in recognising letters and phonemes. Ankuran includes those who experience difficulty in reading individual words. Pushpan includes students who read sentences or simple passages haltingly (with hesitation), and Phalan has students who can read sentences or simple passages fluently and with comprehension."With the results of the baseline survey, we got an idea of where the students stand and, accordingly, they were taught in schools so that their reading and comprehension abilities improve. Our focus is on strengthening the comprehension ability so that students understand concepts easily," said a senior official.