Seven States/ UT Make It to Level-Ii in Pgi 2020-21

What’s in today’s article:

• About PGI (Objective, Grading System, Benefits)
• PGI 2020-21 (Top Performers)

Why in news?

• Recently, Union Ministry of Education released the national Performance Grading Index (PGI) of school education for 2020-21.

About Performance Grading Index (PGI):

• The PGI 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.