Performing Grade Index 2021-22: Chandigarh, Punjab Best Performers In School Education
The Performance Grade Index (PGI) for the academic year 2021-22 has been unveiled by the Union Ministry of Education. According to the recently published report, Chandigarh and Punjab have emerged as the top performers in the realm of school education, encompassing various aspects such as learning outcomes, equity, and infrastructure. Despite their commendable performance, Chandigarh and Punjab secured the sixth position in the overall ranking. The PGI evaluates states and union territories (UTs) across ten categories, but none of them managed to secure a spot among the top five.
Both Punjab and Chandigarh fall into the "Prachesta-2" category, denoting that they achieved scores ranging between 641 and 700 out of a possible 1,000 points. Following them, six states and UTs find themselves in the tier below. With scores ranging from 581 to 640, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu have been placed in the seventh level, known as "Prachesta-3." At the bottom of the list, the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Mizoram fall under the "Akanshi-3" level, with scores ranging from 401 to 460.
In 2017, Kerala, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh emerged as the top-performing states, attaining scores between 901 and 950 out of a possible 1,000. However, this year, no state or union territory has managed to secure the top position. The main objective of the Performance Grade Index, as highlighted in the report, is to create an environment that encourages continuous improvement in the performance of each state and UT.
The report also emphasizes that there is a significant difference between the highest and lowest scores received by each state, amounting to 259 points or 39% of the minimum score. This signifies the need for Arunachal Pradesh to exert more efforts to reach the top spot. In 2017-18, this discrepancy was 51%, indicating that the PGI has contributed to narrowing the performance gap over time, possibly due to government initiatives such as the "Look East" strategy, as stated in the Union Education Report.
The decline in ratings this year is attributed by the government to a modification in the evaluation criteria. The Ministry of Education has re-evaluated the existing criteria and introduced a new one in response to criticism that the PGI assessment was overly focused on governance procedures rather than the quality index. Consequently, the "Learning Outcomes and Quality" indicator has been allocated 240 points, an increase from the previous year's 180 points, while the "Infrastructure" indicator has been assigned 190 points, up from 150 points. The equity criterion now receives a higher rating, ranging from 230 to 260 points. In order to accommodate the growing significance of these three indicators, the weightage given to governance procedures has been reduced from 360 to 130 points. Additionally, this year witnessed the inclusion of a new metric, teacher training, which carries a weightage of 100 points.