Meghalaya climbs two grades in national school education index

Meghalaya has moved up two grades in the Government of India's Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for school education, marking the first time the state has risen out of the lowest category since the assessment framework was introduced.

According to the Ministry of Education's PGI 2.0 report for 2025-26, Meghalaya's overall score increased from 448 in 2024-25 to 525.71, lifting the state from the Akanshi-3 category to Akanshi-1.

The improvement also places Meghalaya alongside states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Tripura, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir in the Akanshi-1 category.

The state government said the progress reflects a series of reforms implemented over the past eight years, with intensified efforts during the last three years. These included changes in governance, infrastructure development, teacher welfare, training programmes and improved monitoring of schools.

Over the past four assessment cycles, Meghalaya's PGI score has risen steadily from 401.62 in 2022-23 to 417.89 in 2023-24, 448 in 2024-25 and 525.71 in 2025-26, an increase of more than 124 points, or nearly 31 per cent, in three years.

The Performance Grading Index is the Centre's framework for assessing school education across states and Union Territories. PGI 2.0 evaluates performance through 70 indicators covering six areas: learning outcomes and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, governance processes, and teacher education and training.

Among the reforms highlighted by the Education Department was the introduction of the Structured Pay Framework (SPF), which brought fixed-pay teachers under a common pay structure linked to experience, annual increments and contributory provident fund benefits.

The government also cited large-scale rationalisation of schools, reducing the number of institutions from 14,641 in 2024-25 to 11,443 in 2025-26 through clustering and resource optimisation. It said the launch of the Chief Minister's IMPACT initiative contributed to improved SSLC examination results.

Other measures included infrastructure upgrades under Mission Education, Samagra Shiksha and the Asian Development Bank-funded Supporting Human Capital Development in Meghalaya Project, establishment of the Meghalaya Teacher Training Academy, expansion of digital governance systems, and focused interventions to strengthen foundational literacy, numeracy and inclusive education.

The department said it also carried out district-wise reviews of PGI indicators, regular monitoring meetings, standard operating procedures, capacity-building exercises and targeted action plans to improve weaker areas identified in the previous assessment.

Domain-wise, governance processes recorded the biggest improvement, increasing from 40.5 to 85.6 between 2024-25 and 2025-26. Infrastructure and facilities rose from 62.1 to 77.8, while teacher education and training improved to 57.5 and access increased to 49.1. Equity remained the state's strongest-performing domain at 208.5, while learning outcomes and quality improved to 47.2.

The government acknowledged that further work is needed, particularly in learning outcomes and governance, and said the latest report provides a roadmap for the next phase of reforms.

The Education Department thanked teachers, school heads, students, parents, School Management Committees, district education officials, Samagra Shiksha Mission, SEMAM and partner organisations for contributing to the improvement, while reaffirming its commitment to achieving higher PGI grades in the coming years.