Chandigarh And Punjab Top Performers In School Education: PGI Report 2021-22

Aug. 1, 2023, 10:40 a.m.

Chandigarh and Punjab emerged as the top performers in school education across indicators such as learning outcomes, equity and infrastructure as per the Union Ministry of Education’s Performance Grade Index for the year 2021-22.

According to sources, both Chandigarh and Punjab have been placed in the sixth place in the index on ‘Prachesta -2’ level for which a state should score between 641-700 out of total 1,000 points.

With a score between 581 points to 640 points, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu have been placed at the 7th level, Prachesta-3, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram are placed at the bottom, Akanshi–3, with a score between 401-460.

It is worth mentioning here that last year the top-performing states Kerala, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh had scored between 901 and 950 points out of 1,000 points.

The government attributed the drop in scores to a change in their assessment parameters. The ministry reassigned weightage to the existing parameters and introduced a new one this year, acknowledging that the PGI assessment was “heavily tilted towards indicators related to governance processes instead of the quality indicator.”

According to new parameters, for the ‘Learning Outcomes and Quality’ indicator, the ministry has assigned 240 points, compared to 180 last year, and for infrastructure, 190 points, up from 150 last year. The emphasis on the equity criterion has been increased from 230 to 260 points. To accommodate the importance of these three parameters, the government has reduced the emphasis on governance processes from 360 points to 130 points. Additionally, a new parameter of teacher training with a weightage of a total 100 points has been introduced this year by the government.