9 states graded down for education quality; literate Kerala declines

Punjab, Gujarat and Odisha score the best in government report grading states in various domains

School education quality declined in nine states, including highly literate Kerala, and three union territories (UTs) in 2023-24 compared to the academic year before, according to a new government report that graded them on six domains.

 

The Education Ministry’s ‘Performance Grading Index 2.0’ (PGI 2.0) ranked states and UTs to establish an evidence-based assessment system for school education and recommending interventions based on identified gaps.

 

This was done by giving scores out of 1,000 based on domains of learning outcomes and quality (240 points), education access (80), infrastructure and facilities (190), equity (260), governance processes (130), and teacher education and training (100). 

 

Of the nine states where scores dipped, Kerala and Mizoram have literacy rates exceeding 95 per cent, according to data from the annual Periodic Labour Force Survey 2023-24 (July-June). Scores also declined in states with sub-80 per cent literacy rates, such as Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. The biggest drop was in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Bihar. 

 

The major reason for scores declining in the nine states is their performance in governance processes (GP). That domain includes a set of indicators measuring the compliance of schools with provisions of the Right to Education Act, such as maintenance of pupil-teacher ratio. GP also includes parameters measuring the extent of use of information technology tools instead of human interface, for example, digital attendance of students and teachers in schools. 

 

Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Mizoram saw a drop of 36.5, 27.3 and 25.4 points, respectively, due to poor performance in GP. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal’s scores declined in the domains of education access and teacher education as well. Karnataka, Bihar and Chhattisgarh declined in the equity domain, while Uttarakhand’s scores for infrastructure dipped. 

 

Chandigarh, a UT, scored 703, the highest nationwide. Punjab, Gujarat and Odisha scored the highest among states, but their expenditure on education as a share of their gross state domestic product in 2023-24 was low compared to others.