Punjab among top five performers in education

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 6

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” today approved the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for states and Union Territories (UTs) in which Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Kerala have got the highest grade (A++).

The PGI aimed at creating an environment that nudged states/UTs to improve their performance, the minister said. “I’m happy to share that 19 states and UTs have shown improvement by 10 per cent (36 points) or more in PGI domain of governance process. Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal improved by at least 20 per cent,” he said. Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab and Tamil Nadu improved their overall PGI score by 10 per cent (100 point or more).

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Punjab have shown improvement of 10 per cent (eight points) or more in the “access” domain.

Thirteen states and UTs have shown improvement by 10 per cent (15 points) or more in “infrastructure and facilities”, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Odisha have improved by 20 per cent or more.

Punjab tops in school education, teaching fraternity upbeat

In “equity”, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Odisha have shown an improvement of over 10 per cent.

The index was first published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18. It is finalised based on 70 parameters to “catalyse transformational change in the field of school education”.

“The state-wise performance for 2019-20 shows that 33 states and UTs have improved their score as compared with previous year’s figures,” Pokhriyal said.“The difference between the maximum and minimum PGI scores in 2019-20 is over 380 points,” he added.