Chandigarh, Gujarat, Kerala ranked top states in MHRD survey

THE STATES WERE MARKED ON A SCALE OF 1000. CHANDIGARH, GUJARAT AND KERALA SCORED MORE THAT 850 POINTS

NEWDELHI: THE Union territory of Chandigarh, and the states of Gujarat and Kerala have come out on top in a performance grading by the human resource development (HRD) ministry after it analysed data related to schools across India.

In the latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) released by the HRD ministry, the top three are closely followed by Maharashtra and Delhi, where the Arvind Kejriwalled Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made the work it has done in the education sector a key election plank.

The survey indicated that a lot needs to be done for education in the northeast. In the national level assessment, Arunachal Pradesh finished in the bottom rung, only marginally behind neighbours like Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya. The PGI for the states and UTS was first published in 2019 for 2017-18.

The latest exercise examined the same set of 70 parameters used for the PGI 2017-18. The states were marked on a scale of 1000 and Gujarat, Kerala and Chandigarh scored more that 850 points; the scores of Delhi and Maharashtra were 800 plus.

Thirteen states and UTS fell in the 751-800 bracket. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Punjab, Puducherry, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh fell in this bracket.

In the next grade (700-751 points) fell states like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura,

Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, uttarakhand, the newly created UTS of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and Daman and Diu.

Bihar, Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshdweep, and Mizoram fell in the bracket of states scoring more than 650 to 700 points.

Rajasthan, followed by Chandigarh and Karnataka, is the state which performed the best in terms of learning outcomes.

In another key domain — access to education — Kerala, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh were the best scorers. Goa, Chandigarh and Delhi were the best in terms of infrastructure.

HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the grading index would help states identify areas where they could improve.

Unlike rankings, the PGI grades states and points out their areas of strength and those where they need to improve.