Odisha Gets Low Grades In School Education Index; Scores ‘Uttam’ In 2 Domains

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has slipped to 24th position in the performance grading index (PGI) 2.0 for states and union territories for the year 2021-22. It was ranked 10th in 2020-21.

PGI 2.0 released by the Ministry of Education classified the States/UTs into ten grades – highest achievable Grade is Daksh, which is for State/UT scoring more than 940 points out of total of 1000 points and the lowest grade, Akanshi-3, which is for score up to 460.

No states featured in the top four category – Daksh (941 – 1000), Utkarsh (881 – 940), Atti – Uttam (821 – 880), Uttam (761 – 820) and Prachesta – 1. Chandigarh and Punjab got Prachesta – 2 (641 – 700) grade. While Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi Puducherry and Tamil Nadu made it to Prachesta – 3 (581 – 640), A & N Islands, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, DNH & DD, Rajasthan, Goa, Sikkim, Haryana, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh were featured in Akanshi-1 (521 – 580).

Odisha is among the 12 states in Akanshi-2 (461 – 520) with a score of 517.1. The other states are Assam, Nagaland, Bihar, J & K, Telangana, Jharkhand, Tripura, Ladakh, Uttarakhand. Manipur and Uttar Pradesh. In Learning Outcomes and Quality, Odisha attained Akanshi-1 grade, Uttam in Access domain (enrolment, retention of students), Prachesta -3 in Infrastructure and Facility, Utkarsh in Equity (bridging the social category gaps in access, participation, and learning outcomes in school education), Prachesta -2 in – Governance Processes (digital attendance of students, teachers, transfer of funds digitally, time taken by State government to release the funds, filling vacancy and transfer of teachers through transparent online system) and Uttam in Teacher Education and Training.

Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram have been placed in Akanshi-3 (401 – 460).

The Ministry, however, said that the PGI – State structure for 2021-22 has been revised and renamed as PGI 2.0. to be more aligned with new initiatives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the grades/level obtained by states/UTs in previous editions of the PGIs are not comparable with the grades/levels obtained by states/UTs in the 2022-22 edition.

Notably, Odisha had scored 734 out of total weightage of 1000 in 2017-18. It scored 749 in 2018-19. There was no change in level of the state’s PGI and it remained in Level 6 for the two consecutive years. In 2019-20, the state had jumped to Level 4 with 838 score. It again improved its score to 877 and remained in Level 3 in PGI 2020-21.