NE EDUCATION BUREAU
NEW DELHI, FEB 24
The Union Territory of Chandigarh and the states of Gujarat and Kerala have come out on top in a performance grading by the human resource development (HRD) ministry after it analysed data related to schools across India.
In the latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) released by the HRD Ministry, the top three are closely followed by Maharashtra and Delhi, where the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made the work it has done in the education sector a key election plank and won the assembly polls by a landslide.
The survey indicated that a lot needs to be done for education in the northeast. In the national level assessment, Arunachal Pradesh finished in the bottom rung, only marginally behind neighbours like Manipur, Nagaland, and Meghalaya. The PGI for the States and Union Territories (UTs) was first published in 2019 for 2017-18.
The latest exercise examined the same set of 70 parameters used for the PGI 2017-18. The states were marked on a scale of 1000 and Gujarat, Kerala and Chandigarh scored more than 850 points; the scores of Delhi and Maharashtra were 800 plus.
Thirteen states and UTs fell in the 751-800 bracket. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Punjab, Puducherry, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh fell in this bracket.
In another key domain — access to education — Kerala, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh were the best scorers. Goa, Chandigarh, and Delhi were the best in terms of educational infrastructure. Delhi and Dadra and Nagar Haveli did well in the area of equity while Gujarat and Chandigarh outperformed others on governance processes.
HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the grading index would help states identify areas where they could improve. Unlike rankings, the PGI grades states and points out their areas of strength and those where they need to improve.
Last year too, Gujarat, Kerala, and Chandigarh topped the index with scores ranging from 801 to 850 points out of an aggregate of 1,000.
Gujarat takes remedial measures
“We are focusing on improving learning outcomes, quality of education and on ensuring the best infrastructure facilities in the coming months. We aim to build a robust school transportation system for better access,” the official added.
The survey exercise examined 70 parameters that were used for the PGI 2017-18. The states were marked on a scale of 1,000. Chandigarh, Gujarat, and Kerala scored more than 850 points. The report stated that the exercise is to pinpoint gaps and accordingly prioritize areas for intervention to ensure that the school education system sees improvement. The summary report was published in January while the detailed report will be available in April.
In the domain relating to governance and management, the top score of 279 was that of Gujarat. This was 78% of the maximum points. Governance and management are of the highest importance as insights help in critical structural monitoring from the attendance of teachers to ensuring the transparent recruitment of teachers and principals. The report states that the shortage of teachers, principals and administrative staff, lack of regular supervision and inspection, inadequate training of the teachers, issues with timely availability of finances are factors plaguing the education system. The second important domain is infrastructure and facilities which measures all the above factors. Gujarat, when it comes to infrastructure, has scored just 116, which was less than Chandigarh (136) and Kerala
