On Thursday, the Ministry of Education released PGI 2020-21, a unique index for a comprehensive evidence-based analysis of the school education system in India.
In 2019-20, Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Kerala are at the top of the index.
Among the L-II / UT states, Chandigarh scored 927, followed by Gujarat, Rajasthan (both 903) and Andhra Pradesh (902). Ladakh made significant improvements to the PGI from L-VIII to L-IV in 2020-21, improving its score by 299 points in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20, the highest improvement ever recorded in a single year.
The PGI considers the Indian education system as one of the largest in the world with approximately 14.9 lakh of schools, 95 lakh of teachers and nearly 26.5 million students from different socio-economic backgrounds. Designed by the Department of Education and School Literacy, the index provides data-based insights and mechanisms on the state performance of the school education system.
Offering comparative analysis, the latest index report stated that none of the states have reached the highest level (LI). The highest score in 2017-18 was Level IV, which moved up to Level II (score range 901-950 out of 1000 in 2020-21), implying steady improvement across states / UT over the past four years.
“No state reached the first two levels in 2017-18 and 2018-19, while in 2020-21 seven states reached level II. Similarly, no states performed below level VII in 2020-21, while in 2017-18 there were 12 states / UT that performed below level VII, showing a noticeable improvement in states / UT for the past 4 years, “he said.
Highlighting the disparity between states, the report noted: “The highest and lowest scores obtained by states in 2020-21 are 928 and 669, respectively. The deviation between the highest and lowest scores obtained by states is 259 or 39%. Arunachal Pradesh is at the bottom. This disparity was 51% in 2017-18, indicating that the PGI has also helped bridge the inter-state / UT performance gap over the years. The reduction in the interstate differential is also due to the careful monitoring of the schemes through the evidence-based IPG that may have helped both performing and aspiring states and UTs to improve their performance. ”
