Why in news?
The Education Ministry recently released the latest edition of the Performance Grading Index (PGI).
What is the Index for?
- The Education Ministry released the first PGI in 2019 for the reference year 2017-18, to measure the performance of states in school education.
- The objective is to help the states prioritise areas for intervention in school education.
- States are only graded and not ranked.
- This is to avoid discouraging the practice of one improving only at the cost of others and casting a stigma of underperformance on some.
How does it work?
- The PGI assesses states’ performance in school education based on data drawn from several sources including -
- the Unified District Information System for Education Plus
- National Achievement Survey
- Mid-Day Meal
- States are scored on a total of 1,000 points across 70 parameters.
- The parameters are grouped under five broad categories:
- access (eg. enrolment ratio, transition rate and retention rate)
- governance and management
- infrastructure
- equity (difference in performance between scheduled caste students and general category students)
- learning outcomes (average score in mathematics, science, languages and social science)
- The PGI grading system has 10 levels.
- Level 1 indicates top-notch performance and a score between 951 and 1,000 points.
- Level II, also known as Grade 1++, indicates a score between 901 and 950.
- Level III, or Grade 1+, indicates a score between 851 and 900.
- The lowest level is Grade VII, and it means a score between 0 and 550 points.
What are the highlights of the recent Index?
- In PGI 2019-20 too, no state/UT could achieve the highest grade/Level I, same as in 2017-18 and 2018-19 editions.
- Chandigarh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar and Kerala have scored more than 90%.
- They have obtained Grade 1++ (or Level II), which makes them the best performing states.
- This is the first time that any state has reached Level II.
- Only the UT of Ladakh has been placed in the lowest grade, that is Grade VII.
- But this is because it was the first time it was assessed after it was carved out of J&K in 2019.
- Progress - A total of 33 States and UTs have improved their total PGI score in 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19.
- However, there are still 31 states/UTs placed in Level III (Grade 1) or lower.
- The biggest improvement in PGI this year has been shown by Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Punjab, and Arunachal Pradesh.
- All three have improved their score by 20%.
What are the key areas demanding attention?
- In 'Governance Processes' domain, 24 States/UTs have scored less than 288 (80% of the maximum possible score).
- It carries parameters such as teacher availability, teachers training, regular inspection, and availability of finances.
- States and UTs need to improve in this, and the PGI too accords the highest importance to this Domain.
- This is because compliance in this domain will improve other areas including monitoring teachers' attendance, and transparent recruitment.
- The second area that requires attention is the Domain for Infrastructure and facilities.
- Here, 20 States/UTs have scored less than 120 (80% of maximum possible score in this domain).
- Two States, Bihar (81) and Meghalaya (87) recorded lowest scores in this domain.
- This is a cause for concern, as a proper school building with adequate facilities is essential to improve the overall quality of school education.
Source: The Indian Express
