Chandigarh leads in school education rankings

Chandigarh has emerged as the best-performing region in the country in the Union Education Ministry's latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 report on school education.

While Meghalaya ranked lowest at the tenth and lowest category. 

The UT scored 703 out of 1,000 and was placed in the fifth performance band, known as Prachesta-1, making it the only state or Union Territory in this category.

Thee PGI 2.0, a revised framework introduced in 2021, evaluates all 36 states and UTs based on six key domains such as, learning outcomes and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, governance processes, and teacher education and training.

Each domain contributes to a cumulative score out of 1,000, with the goal of highlighting both achievements and areas needing policy intervention.

This latest edition of the report covers both academic years 2022-23 and 2023-24 and is based on multiple data sources, including the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021, UDISE+ data, and PM-POSHAN (mid-day meal) scheme information.

Following Chandigarh's top position, Punjab (631.1) and Delhi (623.7) were the next highest performers, both placed in the Prachesta-3 band (score range: 581-640).

Other states and UTs in this band included Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Haryana, Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

These results, while relatively strong, still reflect a nationwide underperformance against the highest possible benchmarks.

On the lower end of the spectrum are Arunachal Pradesh with 461.4 points, Mizoram at 464.2, Nagaland at 468.6, and Bihar at 471.9-all falling into the bottom two bands. In total, 10 states and UTs fell into the ninth band, Akanshi-2 that has a score range of 461-520.

Overall, the report found that 25 of the 36 states and UTs improved their scores in 2023-24 compared to the previous year.