On June 27, 2022, Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education released the ‘Performance Grading Index for Districts of India (PGI-D) Combined Report For 2018-19 & 2019-20’ which assessed the performance of school education system at the District level.
- The PGI-D report Graded 725 districts in 2018-19 and 733 districts in 2019-20 across the States / UTs (Union Territories).
- Rajasthan’s Sikar (488 out of 1000 points) district is the highest performing district for 2019-20 in school education, followed by its Jhunjhunu (486), and Jaipur (482). All these have attained the grade of ‘Utkarsh’ category (scoring 81-90% on a scale of 100).
- Rajasthan also topped the second grade ‘Ati-uttam’ having 24 of its districts in this category, for 2019-20.
- The PGI-D 2020-21 is presently under compilation.
Objective of Report:
To help the districts to priorities areas for intervention in school education and thus improve to reach the highest grade
Basis of PGI-D Report:
The PGI-D comprises of total weight age of 600 points across 83 indicators, which are grouped under 6 categories viz.
- Outcomes
- Effective Classroom Transaction
- Infrastructure Facilities & Student’s Entitlements
- School Safety & Child Protection
- Digital Learning
- Governance Process
These categories are further divided into 12 domains. PGI-D grades the districts into ten grades viz. Highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for Districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall. The lowest grade in PGI-D is called Akanshi-3 which is for scores upto10% of the total points.
Key Points:
i.None of the districts attained highest grade Daksh in both 2019-20 and 2018-19 implying there is ample scope for the districts to further improve their performance in future years.
ii.No district reached Utkarsh grade in 2018-19.
iii.Number of districts in Ati-uttam grade has increased from 49 to 86 during 2018-19 to 2019-20 showing remarkable improvements.
- In 2019-20, Rajasthan is followed by Punjab with 14 districts in Ati-uttam grade (scoring 71% to 80% in a scale of 100).
- It is followed by Gujarat and Kerala with each having 13 districts in this category.
- However, the top scoring district in this category is from Kerala (Kannur – 461).
iv.There are 12 states/ UTs which don’t have any districts the Ati-uttam and Uttam (scoring 61% to 70% in a scale of 100) viz. Bihar, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand.
v.In the Uttam category Uttar Pradesh (35) has the maximum number of districts, followed by Tamil Nadu (27) and Maharashtra and Karnataka with 25 districts each.
vi.The data sourced from the National Achievement Survey (NAS) and Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) however showed marked improvement in learning outcomes, access and infrastructure till the pre-pandemic period.
| Name of Grade | PGI scores in Percentage |
| Daksh | More than 90% |
| Utkarsh | 81% to 90% |
| Ati-uttam | 71% to 80% |
| Uttam | 61% to 70% |
| Prachesta-1 | 51% to 60% |
| Prachesta -2 | 41% to 50% |
| Prachesta-3 | 31% to 40% |
| Akanshi-1 | 21% to 30% |
| Akanshi-2 | 11% to 20% |
| Akanshi-3 | Upto 10% |
DoSE&L releases PGI 2019-20 for States and UT
DoSE&L also released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 For States and UTs in which, for the first time, 5 States and UTs have crossed the threshold of 90% PGI score and reached Grade I++ i.e. Level II (score 901-950). However, no state has attained the Level I (951 – 1000).
- The 5 states in Grade I++ are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
Assessment:
The index was prepared upon 70 parameters. The information on the indicators is drawn from data available from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), National Achievement Survey (NAS) of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Mid-Day Meal (MDM) website, Public Financial Management System (PFMS) and the Shagun portal. These portals have been created and maintained by the DoSEL, MoE.
Key Points:
- One UT, namely Ladakh is in Grade VII, i.e., score range 0-550.
- No State/UT is in Grade VI.
- iOne State, namely Meghalaya is in Grade V, i.e., score range 601-650.
- A total of 33 States and UTs have improved their total PGI score in 2019-20 as compared to 2018-19.
- The PGI for the States and UTs was first published in 2019 for the reference year 2017-18. The PGI for reference year 2018-19 was published in the year 2020.
Recent Related News:
i.The Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA) 2.0 on April 25, 2022 has completed four years since its launch on the same day in the year 2018. The UBA 2.0 was launched with the vision of transformational change in the rural development processes by the Ministry of Education (MoE).
ii.On the eve of International Women’s Day, MoWCD, Ministry of Education(MoE) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) partnered and launched the landmark ‘Back to School’ campaign – “Kanya Shikhsa Pravesh Utsav”, with an aim to bring back out of school adolescent girls in India to the formal education and/or skilling system.
About Ministry of Education (MoE):
Union Minister– Dharmendra Pradhan
Minister of State– Subhas Sarkar, Annapurna Devi Yadav, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh
