The state of Chandigarh has emerged as the best performer in the school education segment at the level of the academic year 2023-24 as per the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 report by the Department of School Education and Literacy. Meghalaya, however, scores lowest in the index with many other states having grounds to improve. In the report, it is noted that although 24 states and Union Territories have shown a positive increase in their scores, none of the territories were in the top category and had tremendous opportunities to develop the school education quality that India suffers.
Context
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The PGI 2.0 report introduced by the Union Ministry of Education ranks states and Union Territories according to numerous indicators including learning outcomes, infrastructure, equity and governance processes.
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Chandigarh was the topper and Meghalaya was at the bottom. The report highlights that there is a need to improve on the quality of education in India.
Key Points
States with ranking
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Top Performers:
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Chandigarh: Chandigarh ranked first in the index with a score of 719 and it is the only state that falls within the Grade Prachesta-1 (701 to 760).
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Other High scoring States: States such as Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Kerala and Maharashtra scored between 581-640 falling under Grade Prachesta-3.
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Bottom Performers:
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Meghalaya: It has the lowest rating of 417, and is thus rated as the worst performer (Akanshi-3, 401-460) in the various education indicators.
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Other States under Akanshi-2 Group: Telangana, Assam, Jharkhand, Tripura, etc., with scores running between 461-520, indicating the great potential of improvement.
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Mid-Range Performers:
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14 States and Union Territories: States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have scored 521-580 (Akanshi-1), an average score.
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Improvements:
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Best Progresses in Access: Bihar and Telangana achieved the greatest progress in accessing school education.
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Infrastructure Development: Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and Telangana experienced the best increases in infrastructure quality during 2022-23-2023-24 years.
Possibilities to be improved:
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Top Scoring Range Unrepresented: No state scored in the top scoring category (761-1, 000), which implies that the country has a big potential of improving the quality of school education throughout the country.
How the Index Will Help States:
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State-Level Leadership: understands that to enhance educational achievement in a cost-efficient way, outstanding leadership at the state level is important.
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Regular Transparent Review: It entails the provision of a regular and transparent review of school education quality in States and UTs, with improved monitoring of progress and importantly; the area to be improved.
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Incentive to Improve: States and UTs shall be made to improve their scores by demonstrating improvement on critical areas of education.
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Competitive Federalism: In line with the vision of NITI Aayog to facilitate competitive and co-operative federalism through decentralisation and a system which allows the States to benefit through the experiences and best practices of others.
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Encouraging Knowledge Sharing; The Index will allow sharing of knowledge and best practices among States and UTs to achieve joint goals to improve the quality of education in the entire country.
About NITI Aayog
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Origin: The establishment of NITI Aayog was by way of a resolution of the Union Cabinet on 1 January 2015, and came into existence as a substitute Planning Commission.
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Policy Think Tank: It is the leading think tank on policy of Government of India and it offers both strategic orientation and technical guidance to the Centre and the States.
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Governing Council: Governing council of NITI Aayog consists of the Prime minister as the Chairman, Chief Ministers of all the States and Lt. Governors of all UTs.
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Mandate: NITI Aayog has the role of coming up with long term policies and programs, to develop India with a particular focus on innovation and cooperation between states.
Conclusion
The fact that Chandigarh is ranked number one in the Performance Grading Index therefore indicates that things are on the right path in school education, but from the general impression that no state is number one in the highest scoring category, it is quite evident that there is still a long way to go. States such as Bihar and Telangana have shown improvement with better access and infrastructure yet the necessity of a structural change in education is dire in terms of enhancements in the individual's educational experience in India as a whole.
