A policy think tank of the Government of India (GoI) , NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) has released its first edition of School Education Quality Index (SEQI) 2019 with the aim to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector with the reference year 2016-17. West Bengal did not participate in the Niti Aayog exercise.
Key points:
i.The Index was released by Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, in the presence of NITI Aayog Member Dr Vinod Paul, CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Mr Amitabh Kant and Ms Rina Ray, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource and Development and representatives from the World Bank( WB) in New Delhi.
ii. The index which is developed in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts, consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education.
Ranking : In this index, the quality of school education of 20 larger states, 8 smaller states & 7 UT’s (Union Territory) has been ranked by a number between base year ( 2015-16) and Reference Year (2016-17).
Index Categories:
SEQI is based on 2 index categories, they are the outcomes category and governance process aiding outcomes category.
i. The domain in the outcomes category are
1. Overall performance for large and Small states & UT (Union Territory)
2.Incremental performance ranking for large and Small states & UT (Union Territory)
3.Learning Outcomes category
4.Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category.
ii. The domain in the governance process aiding outcomes category are,
1. covering student teacher attendance, teacher availability, administrative adequacy, training accountability and transparency.
1. Overall performance for large and Small states & UT
Large states category: As per the Index , Kerala has emerged at the top with 76.6 percent points in overall performance in large states category in 2016-17. Uttar Pradesh ranked at the bottom with 36.4 % points.
Small states category: Among Small States , Manipur has claimed the top spot with 68.8%Â & Arunachal Pradesh ranked at the bottom with 24.6 percent points.
UT (Union Territory) category : In UTs list, Chandigarh got 1st place in the overall performance with 82.9 percent & Lakshadweep is at the bottom position with 31.9 %.
The top three & bottom three states/UTs in the list are,
| States/UTs | Overall Performance Ranking (2016-17) | ||
| Large States | 1. Â Â Kerala 2. Â Â Rajasthan 3. Â Â Karnataka | 18. Punjab 19. Jammu & Kashmir 20. Uttar Pradesh | |
| Small States | 1. Â Â Manipur 2. Â Â Tripura 3. Â Â Goa | 6. Sikkim 7. Meghalaya 8. Arunachal Pradesh | |
| Union Territories | 1. Â Â Chandigarh 2. Â Â Dadra and Nagar Haveli 3. Â Â Delhi | 5. Â Â Daman & Diu 6. Andaman & Nicobar Islands 7. Â Â Lakshadweep | |
2. Incremental performance ranking for large and Small states & UT
Large States Category: Haryana showed high rates of improvement with increases of 18.5% points between 2015-16 and 2016-17 followed by Assam(16.8 %), Uttar Pradesh(13.7%), Odisha(12.4%), Gujarat (10.6 %).
Small states category: Meghalaya got first place in incremental performance ranking with gains of 14.1%, followed by Nagaland (13.5 %) and Goa (8.2 %).
UT (Union Territory) category: All seven UTs showed an improvement in their overall performance score between 2015-16 and 2016-17. Daman & Diu stood 1st for the size of the increase, with gains of 16.5 %, followed by Dadra & Nagar Haveli (15 %) ,Puducherry (14.3 %) .
| States/UTs | Annual Incremental Performance (Between Base Year: 2015-16 and Reference Year: 2016-17) | |
| Large States | 1. Â Â Haryana 2. Â Â Assam 3. Â Â Uttar Pradesh | 18. Jharkhand 19. Uttarakhand 20. Karnataka |
| Small States | 1. Â Â Meghalaya 2. Â Â Nagaland 3. Â Â Goa | 6. Â Â Sikkim 7. Â Â Mizoram 8. Â Â Arunachal Pradesh |
| Union Territories | 1. Â Â Daman & Diu 2. Â Â Dadra and Nagar Haveli 3. Â Â Puducherry
| 4. Â Â Lakshadweep 5. Â Â Chandigarh 6. Â Â Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
3. Learning Outcomes category
Large states Category: Â Karnataka leads the Large States on the Outcomes category with a score of 81.9 %Â & Uttar Pradesh scores the lowest at 34.1 percent.
Top three larger states in this list are,Â
| Rank | State Name |
| 1 | Karnataka |
| 2 | Rajasthan |
| 3 | Andhra Pradesh |
Small states Category: Manipur received first score among the Small States on the Outcomes category, with 82.1 percent. Arunachal Pradesh has the lowest score at 27.2 %.
Union Territory category: Chandigarh secured the best performing UT on the Outcomes category, with a score of 88.4 %, while Lakshadweep ranks the lowest position with 28.9 % points.
4. Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category
Large States category: Kerala (79%) leads the Large States in Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes category , which accounts for about 30 percent of the overall score. It includes indicators related to student and teacher attendance systems, availability of in-service teacher professional development, school leadership, accountability, transparency in teacher recruitment and financial discipline.
Jharkhand has the lowest score of 21.0 % in this category.
Small states Category: Mizoram ranks first among Small States with a score of 47.5 % points, while Arunachal Pradesh ranks last with a score of 18.3 % points.
Union Territory category: Chandigarh is the best-performing UT with a score of 69.5 percent, while Dadra & Nagar Haveli received the lowest score of 33.5 percent.
About SEQI : It is a platform through which NITI Aayog evaluates the performance of schools in a particular state or UT and benchmarks them against other states.
Benefits: The index helps government understand the challenges that school education sector faces in different states and UTs while also evaluating their strengths that can help solve problems in other states with similar problems.
Data shared by states and UTs and was prepared with the help of World Bank (WB) and other technical experts by Niti Aayog.
About NITI Aayog:
Formed: 1 January 2015
Headquarters : Delhi
Chairperson : Narendra Modi,
Vice Chairperson : Rajiv Kumar,
CEO: Amitabh Kant