Niti Aayog ranks UP 20th in quality education

State gets 53 out of 100 in a report on India’s performance in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

LUCKNOW : Uttar Pradesh has been placed 20th in providing quality education by a recently released Niti Aayog report. The report throws light on India’s performance in meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UP scored 53 out of 100 against the national score of 58 in quality education (SDG -- 4).

Kerala was the top performer with a score of 87, Himachal Pradesh was placed second with a score of 82, and Andhra Pradesh third with a score of 77, closely followed by Karnataka (score -76) and Tamil Nadu (75) in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Among union territories (UTs), Chandigarh bagged the top slot with a score of 85.

States or UTs with a score of 100 come under the ‘achiever’ category. Those with scores between 65 and 99 are rated as ‘front-runners’, between 50 and 64 as ‘performers’ and from 0 to 49 as ‘aspirants’. No states or UTs from India qualified for the top category.

However, 13 states figured in the ‘front-runner’ category. Uttar Pradesh and eight other states fell in the ‘performer’ category,

while the last category, ‘aspirants’, had seven states in it.

The nine states that fared poorly in comparison to UP were: Jammu and Kashmir (score of 51), West Bengal (51), Madhya Pradesh (49), Sikkim (47), Odisha (46), Nagaland (45), Arunachal Pradesh (44), Meghalaya (38) and Bihar (36).

For UP, the adjusted net enrolment ratio at elementary and secondary level was recorded as 68.71%. However, percentage of learning outcomes was a key area of concern -- 50.67% for Class 5 students and 44.25% for Class 8 students.

The UN defines SDGs as the blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future for everyone. The goals, across 17 verticals, address challenges related to poverty, inequality, climate and peace and justice.

The quality education goal aims to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education for all, including technical and vocational training, by providing lifelong learning opportunities, so as to achieve substantial adult literacy and numeracy.

When contacted, director basic education, Sarvendra Vikram Bahadur Singh, said, “The SDG has several parameters in which they evaluate and assess the performance of states in education. We will analyse these parameters before making any comment in the matter.”