Kerala, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have emerged as the best performers in school education across indicators such as learning outcomes, equity and infrastructure in the 2020-21 Performing Grade Index (PGI) of the Ministry of School Education.
These six states and the UT of Chandigarh have been placed at level-II of the index, which was launched by the Centre in 2017-18.
The index measures the performances of states and UTs on a uniform scale and helps them in prioritising areas for intervention. Since its launch, no state or UT has attained level-I.
Last year, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Chandigarh were on level-II, for which states/UTs need to score 901 or above out of 1,000.
Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh are the new entrants to level-II.
“The maximum and minimum scores obtained by the states in 2020-21 are 928 (Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab) and 669 (Arunachal Pradesh), respectively,” the index report noted. “The deviation between the maximum and minimum scores obtained by states is 259 or 39 %, of the minimum points, indicating that Arunachal Pradesh has to put more efforts to reach the top slot.”
The index is drawn up based on 70 indicators covering the areas of learning outcomes, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, and governance process. It sourced data from NAS 2017 and UDISE 2020-21.
The states and UTs on level-III (851-900) are Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Lakshadweep, Delhi, and Odisha.
The report stated, “The PGI evaluation classifies States and UTs into grade/levels, as opposed to ranking. Grading allows several States and UTs to be considered at the same level, eliminating the phenomenon of one improving only at the cost of others…”
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