New Delhi: Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have emerged as the top seven states and union territories (UTs) in terms of performance in school education, shows a new report released by the union Ministry of Education (MoE) Thursday.
The Performance Grading Index (PGI) report 2020-21 measures the performance of states on the basis of parameters including learning outcomes, infrastructure and facilities and governance, among others.
The states were graded on different band levels, starting from 951-1000 or Level 1 score, down to 550 or Level 10, which was the lowest level.
Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab received the highest individual scores among all states and UTs, 928 out of 1000, making it to Level 2 of the PGI.
“A total of 7 States and UTs, including Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have attained Level 2 (score 901-950) in 2020-21 as compared to none in 2017-18,” stated the MoE report.
In the past four years since the PGI was introduced in 2017-18, no state has ever made it to Level 1 of the index.
The report added: “A major purpose of the PGI is creation of an environment that would nudge each State/UT to improve its performance continuously.” According to the report, data over the years has shown that there has been improvement in the performance of all states and UTs.
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‘Scores bear testimony to PGI system efficacy’
The report added that “a total of 27 States and UTs have improved their total PGI score in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20”.
The national capital made it to Level 3 of the index, scoring between 851-900 points. Eleven other states and UTs, including Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, were graded at Level 3 in 2020-21.
The maximum number of states and UTs were ranked at Level 2 and Level 6, with only Arunachal Pradesh being graded at Level 7. No state or union territory ranked at Level 8 or lower.
“The PGI scores and grades achieved by the States and UTs in 2020-21 bear testimony to the efficacy of the PGI system. Many States and UTs have made substantial improvements in many of the outcome parameters, along with measurable improvements in their governance and management-related parameters,” stated the report.
The PGI structure comprises total weightage of 1,000 points across 70 indicators, which are grouped under two Categories — outcome and governance & management. These categories are further divided into five domains — learning outcomes (LO), access (A), infrastructure & facilities (IF), equity (E) and governance process (GP).
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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