Performance Grade Index: On Friday, Ministry of Education released Performing Grading Index(PGI) 2021-22 in which Punjab and Chandigarh have emerged as the best performers in school education. The performance of a national subdivision is assessed by creating an index for comprehensive analysis. It was first released in 2017-18 and has been released up to the cycle of 2021-22. The index grades States and Union Territories in 10 categories. No state or union territory was able to make it in the top five grades. The PGI structure for 2021-22 has been revised and renamed as PGI 2.0.
Top and bottom performers
Last year Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala scored between 901 and 950 points out of 1,000. The ministry of education has changed the parameters of analysis for this year because of shortcomings in the previous model.
As per the latest report Chandigarh and Punjab have emerged as the best performers and are placed in ‘Prachesta -2’ level. For placement at this level a state or UT should score between 641-700 points out of 1000 points. The subdivisions of Gujrat, Delhi, Puducherry, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are placed at ‘Prachesta-3 level with a score ranging between 581-640 points. The North-Eastern states of Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh are placed at the bottom of the index, Akanshi-3 with a score between 401-460.
Performance Grade Index 2.0 explained
This year the assessment patterns in PGI have been changed. The ministry of education has added one parameter for analysis as a senior official stated- “Over the period, many of the indicators in PGI —states/UTs have been outlived and become redundant. Also, the structure of PGI — states/UTs has been heavily tilted towards the indicators related to governance processes rather than the quality indicators.” Therefore the necessity arose to change the parameters of adjudicating performance.
The rating for many indicators has been changed to accommodate new introduction and compensate for over-reliance on governance process indicator. The rating for governance process has been decreased to 130 from 360 points earlier. The new parameter teacher training carries a weightage of 100 points. The ministry has assigned 240 points for Learning Outcomes and Quality up from 180 points last year. The points for infrastructure has been increased to 190 points, up from 150 last year. Similarly the points for equity criterion has increased from 230 to 260 points.
Making the necessary transformation
The new PGI structures takes into consideration over 73 indicators that focuses on quality assessment like teacher education and digital assessment. Hence there is no measure to compare the grades that have been assigned in previous years to the grades assigned in the latest index. The PGI takes into consideration 4.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers and nearly 26.5 crore students in one of the largest education systems in the world.
Their are only two domains- access and equity where a State/UT managed to reach a top grade that is Delhi receiving the grade ‘Daksh.’ As per the ministry none of the state or UT was categorized in bottom four grades for access and equity. No subdivision was able to receive one of the top three grades in infrastructure.
This year’s report made the necessary move by curtailing over-reliance on governance and there are other changes to be made. The equality indicators need to reflect changes introduced by New Education Policy(NEP) and align them with international parameters for adjudicating quality.
Performance Grade Index
A senior official from ministry of education stated” to have a more updated base with quality indicators, to align with new initiatives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, to monitor indicators relating to Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to replace existing indicators which have achieved the optimal target, the PGI – State structure for 2021-22 has been revised and renamed as PGI 2.0,”
Some changes were made in this year’s report while others will be introduced to reflect demands of NEP and goal 4 of SDGs. NEP has five main features on which road to making “India a global knowledge superpower” will be paved. They are Quality, Affordability, Equity, Access and Accountability. NEP places important focus on early childhood care, teacher training, reforming examination system, and restructuring the regulatory framework of education. These features reflect the changes that will be initiated in order to transform India’s education system. A step towards any of these parameters will ultimately suit the indicators of PGI. The road of future is alignment of NEP recommendations with the indicators used for assessment under PGI.
The NEP was introduced in the year 2020 and is a reflection of transformed India after 3 decades of market based reforms. The NEPs heavily emphasize changes in research, curriculum, vocational courses and adoption of three language system. The SDGs goal 4 states access to inclusive and equitable quality education should be provided and there should be lifelong learning opportunities for everyone. An improved PGI index for Indian states is a road towards achieve SDGs 2030. India still has a long way to go before actualizing the goals that are in need of desperate attention.
Keep watching our YouTube Channel ‘DNP INDIA’. Also, please subscribe and follow us on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and TWITTER
