New Delhi: The National Council of Educational Research and Training will on Monday survey more than 30 lakh Class III, Class V and Class VIII pupils across the country to assess how much they have learned.

This will be the largest ever sample size for any survey of schoolchildren's learning outcomes in India.

The National Achievement Survey will assess children from 50 government schools in each district, examining 40 pupils from each of the three classes at each of these schools.

Earlier this year, the council, which prepares textbooks, had drawn up a class-wise list of expected learning outcomes and circulated it among the states.

Forty per cent of the questions in the examination paper for each class will relate to what was taught in the previous class, and 60 per cent will be from the content taught in the first six months of this year in the current class.

So far, the council has held such surveys once in three years, testing smaller samples of about six lakh pupils from the three classes.

The Union human resource development ministry and the Niti Aayog are examining a proposal to hold the test every year, with the participation of private schools too.

"This year's test is going to be the largest ever, going by the number of students taking it," a senior council official said.

The Annual Status of Education Report, prepared by the NGO Pratham, had covered 5.62 lakh children in 2016.

The council has selected the schools giving enough representation to various segments such as urban and rural areas, tribal pockets and minority-concentrated localities.

The council had prepared the questions in Hindi and English. The State Council of Educational Research and Training in each state has translated the questions into the local language.

The surveyors will visit the schools participating in the exercise and hold the tests there.