School Education Performance Grading Index for Districts

The combined Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) report for 2018-19 and 2019-20, which seeks to assess the school education system, was released by the Education Ministry in the first week of this month. Government's Performance Grading Index for districts is the first-ever exercise by the ministry to rate districts, and not just states, on their school education system.

PGI-D is a tool to provide insights on the status of school education in States and UTs, including key levers that drive their performance and critical areas for improvement. The structure comprises a total weightage of 600 points across 83 indicators, grouped under six categories — Learning Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities and Students' Entitlements, School Safety and Child Protection, Digital Learning, and Governance Process. The PGI-D grading system includes 10 grades — Daksh for districts scoring more than 90 per cent in a category or overall, Utkarsh (81-90 per cent), AtiUttam (71-80 per cent), Uttam (61 to 70 per cent), Prachesta-1 (51 to 60 per cent), Prachesta-2 (41 to 50 per cent), Prachesta-3 (31 to 40 per cent), Akanshi-1 (21 to 30 per cent), Akanshi-2 (11 to 20 per cent), and Akanshi-3 (up to 10 per cent).

The Northeastern states saw a drop in parameters like 'percentage of identified out-of-school-children mainstreamed', 'net enrolment ratio in secondary level education', 'quality of computer labs', and 'per cent of state budget share spent on education to total state budget'.

Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar and Kerala are top five achievers in PGI-D.

Bihar, Mizoram, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are in Grade III, above three Grade IV States - Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Chhattisgarh. Meghalaya and Ladakh are the penultimate and last achievers placed in Level V and VII respectively.

Seven districts in India have been categorised as 'worst preforming' by the Ministry of Education under its 'PGI-D', six are located in the Northeastern states of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and one is in West Bengal.

There are 31 States and UTs placed in Level III (Grade 1) or lower, showing that they still have a lot of ground to cover. It is unfortunate that none of the districts achieved the highest grade "Daksh" in the country. Three districts reached "Utkarsh" Grade in the country. They are Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Jaipur in Rajasthan.

In accordance with the report of PGI-D, Morigaon and Biswanath districts of Assam are "Uttam" achievers with overall score of 392 (65.33%) and 363 (60.5%) respectively, while Lakhimpur has achieved "Prachesta 3" with overall score of 239 (39.83%). 24 districts of the state achieved "Prechesta 1" and six districts achieved "Prechesta 2". None of the districts of Assam achieved "Daksh", "Utkarsh" or "AtiUttam", which means all districts are between forty to seventy per cent achievement, implying there is ample scope for districts to further improve their performance in future years and District Education Officers and DIETs have to take a lead role.

It is appreciated that district-level data is available to the states, they can used it to bring interventions in the schooling system. They need to pay heed to such data, go deeper to look for trends and bring about changes in order to improve the state of education.

The report reveals that states and UTs need to improve their performance in terms of governance process which carries several parameters like teachers' availability, teacher training, availability of finance and regular inspection. PGI-D accords highest importance as compliance with this indicator is critical to structural reforms.Achievement of 24 States/UTs invite focus for strengthening this sphere. The second area that require attention is infrastructure and facilities as a universal design building with adequate facilities is prerequisite to improve overall quality of school education. Score of 20 States/UTs merits attention in this domain.

Effective monitoring mechanism in school education guided by legislative frameworks like Right to Education 2009, National Education Policy 2020, visionary Sustainable Development Goals, schemes like PM Poshan Shakti Yojna and convergence and coordination among ministries, departments and schemes would enable to deliver the desired result.

Performance-based grant and incentive to state governments and UTs may ensure focused attention to this important sector, which is crucial to overall growth and development of the nation.