New Delhi: Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have joined the league of top performing states in terms of school education. As per the performance grading index (PGI), released by the department of school education and literacy (DoSE&L), as many as seven states and Union territories including Kerala, Punjab, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh have attained level-2 (score 901-950) in 2020-21.
Tamil Nadu has slipped a notch below in PGI, while Kerala along with Punjab, Chandigarh and Maharashtra have retained their position in the 2nd top performing slot. The PGI is a comprehensive analysis of school education system across the country.
Interestingly, no state has attained the level-1 position, in which the state/UTs require getting 951-1000 scores. Performance of states are adjudged in level-1 to level-10. The lowest band score is between 0 and 550.
According to the report, the most improved performance was by Ladakh, which attained Level 4 score in 2020-21 after featuring in Level 10 in 2019-20.
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The main objective of the PGI report is to develop evidence-based policy-making and to ensure quality education for all students across the country. The ministry of education in its report said that the PGI is expected to help states and UTs point out the gaps in the education system and prioritise areas of intervention to make sure that the school education system is at a high standard at all levels.
The grading system was introduced in 2017-18, and no state has achieved the Level 1 grade till now.
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The Indian education system is one of the largest in the world with about 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students from varied socio-economic backgrounds. DoSE&L devised PGI for states/UTs to provide insights and data driven mechanism on the performance and achievements of on the success of school education across all states/UTs.
The PGI structure comprises of 1000 points across 70 indicators grouped into 2 categories viz., outcomes, governance management (GM). These categories are further divided into 5 domains, viz., learning outcomes (LO), access (A), infrastructure& facilities (IF), equity (E) & governance process (GP).
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As was done in the previous years, PGI 2020-21 classified the states/UTs into ten grades viz., highest achievable grade is Level 1, which is for State/UT scoring more than 950 points out of total of 1000 points. The lowest grade is Level 10 which is for score below 551. The ultimate aim of PGI is to propel States & UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes covering all dimensions.
Officials said the PGI is expected to help states and UTs to pinpoint the gaps and accordingly prioritize areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system is robust at every level.
The PGI is expected to help states and Union territories point out the gaps in the education system and prioritise areas of intervention to make sure that the school education system is at a high standard at all levels
