Inter-state school education disparity significantly down since 2017: Rpt

Kerala best state, Chandigarh best union territory (UT) for school education, says Performance Grading Index (PGI) released by Ministry of Education on Thursday

The inter-state disparity in school education in India has reduced in the last four years, a report by the Ministry of Education said on Thursday. From 51 per cent in 2017-18, the disparity has fallen to 39 per cent. Kerala emerged as the best state for school education in India while Arunachal Pradesh stood last in the rankings. 

The Performance Grading Index (PGI) Report for 2020-21 showed the status of school education in States and UTs across India based on five domains. These are "Learning Outcomes and Quality", "Access", "Equity", "Infrastructure and Facilities" and "Governance Processes". It ranked the states and UTs based on the scores out of 1000 points. The highest achievable grade is Level 1 with a score above 950. The lowest grade is Level 10 with a score below 551.

"The maximum and minimum scores obtained by State in 2020-21 are 928 and 669 respectively. The deviation between the maximum and minimum scores obtained by States is 259 or 39 per cent, of the minimum points, indicating that, State Arunachal Pradesh has to put more effort to reach the top slot. This disparity was 51 per cent in 2017-18...," the report said.

Kerala with a score of 928 was followed by Maharashtra and Punjab. Chandigarh emerged as the best union territory (UT) in terms of school education with a score of 927. Arunachal Pradesh scored the lowest 669 points. 

No states and UTs in India reached Level 1 in the survey. 7 States/UTs reached Level II up from 5 States and UTs in 2019-20. In 2018-19 there were no States and UTs in Level 2. 

 

In Learning Outcomes and Quality, Rajasthan scored 168, the highest, followed by Karnataka with 160. In Access, Kerala and Punjab scored full marks. In Infrastructure and Facilities, Punjab scored the highest among the states, followed by Chandigarh. 

In Equity, Rajasthan and Maharashtra were the best-performing states. In Governance Processes, Punjab was the best-performing state. 

"The most significant performer in 2020-21 is Ladakh which has attained Level 4 in 2020-21 from Level 10 in 2019-20 might be due to the focused attention of UT administration on School education," the report said.