India, July 9 -- A government survey report released Tuesday showed that proficiency of students in topics related to Mathematics and English dropped as they progressed from Class 3 to 6 and 9.

While 55% of Class 3 students could arrange numbers up to 99 in ascending and descending orders, 53% of them in Class 6 knew tables up to 10 and only 28% students in Class 9 could understand and apply the concept of percentages to solve problems.

In languages, 60% Class 3 students could read short stories and comprehend meaning, 58% of them in Class 6 could understand main ideas and draw conclusions and 54% students in Class 9 were able to identify main points and summarise the text.

Previously called the National Achievement Survey (NAS), the l...