Meghalaya ranks lowest in school education during 2023-24: MoE report

Meghalaya has emerged as the lowest-performing state in the Ministry of Education’s latest 2023-24 Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D), which evaluates school education at the district level.

The annual index assesses performance across six broad categories, including learning outcomes, infrastructure, digital learning, school safety, and governance. It carries a total weightage of 600 points divided into 74 indicators.

Top performers in the latest report include Chandigarh, Punjab, Delhi, Gujarat, and Odisha. Other states and Union territories that fared well include Kerala, Daman and Diu, Haryana, Goa, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.

The PGI-D, developed by the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), has so far released reports for the years 2017-18 to 2021-22. This tool is aimed at encouraging data-driven reform in school education by assessing the relative performance of all districts on a uniform scale.

States and UTs like Puducherry, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and West Bengal were placed in the average performing category in the latest assessment.

The highest grade in PGI-D is 'Utkarsh', awarded to districts scoring over 90 per cent. Grades decrease in 10 per cent intervals of the total score, aligning with performance brackets.

According to officials, the PGI is intended to act as a catalyst for transformational change in the education sector and ensure equitable and quality learning outcomes across regions.