Recently, Union Ministry of Education released the national Performance Grading Index (PGI) of school education for 2020-21.
About the ‘Performance Grading Index’ –
The Performance Grading Index is an annual publication, released by the Ministry of Education.
It assesses states’ performance in school education based on data drawn from several sources including the –
Unified District Information System for Education Plus,
National Achievement Survey, and
Mid-Day Meal.
The prime objective of PGI is to promote evidence-based policymaking and highlight course correction to ensure quality education for all.
The Education Ministry released the first PGI in 2019 for the reference year 2017-18.
Grading system –
States are scored on a total of 1,000 points across 70 parameters, which are grouped under five broad categories –
Access (e.g., enrolment ratio, transition rate and retention rate);
Governance process;
Infrastructure & Facilities;
Equity (difference in performance between scheduled caste students and general category students) and
Learning outcomes (average score in mathematics, science, languages and social science).
What does the Grading system reflect?
The PGI grading system has 10 levels.
Level I indicates top-notch performance and a score between 951 and 1,000 points.
Level II indicates a score between 901 and 950.
The lowest is Level X, and it means a score between 0 and 550 points.
The ultimate aim of PGI is to propel States and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will bring about the much-desired optimal education outcomes covering all dimensions.
About PGI 2020-21 –
The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education recently released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) for States/UTs for 2020-21.
As per the report, no state or union territory managed to attain the highest achievable grade of level I as a score above 950 was required.
Punjab shared top honours with Kerala and Maharashtra as all three states have scored 928 out of total of 1,000 points to make it to Level II (901-950) of the annual grading index.
Apart from the above three states, four new states have been listed in Level II of the index for the first time. These four states/UTs are – Gujarat, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
The newly formed UT viz., Ladakh has made significant improvement in PGI from Level 8 to Level 4 in 2020-21 or improved its score by 299 points in 2020-21 as compared to 2019-20 resulting into the highest ever improvement in a single year.
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