Odisha Ups Its Level In School Performance Grading Index

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has improved its score in the performance grading index (PGI) on the school education system. It has climbed four notches to occupy the 10th slot among 12 states at Level III.

“Odisha has made significant improvements in PGI 2020-21 and has emerged as one of the top 10 ranked states by securing 877 points out of 1,000,” the School and Mass Education (S&ME) department said.

In 2019-20, the state jumped to Level 4 with 838 score after remaining in level 6 for two consecutive years (2018-19 and 2017-18 with a score of 749 and 734 respectively),  according to the PGI 2020-21 report released by the Ministry of Education on Thursday.

The PGI scores are the aggregate score of five domains of educational attainment of states/UTs – learning outcomes, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity and governance process. Enrolment, retention of students, students entering into higher classes/levels and mainstreaming of out-of-school children are taken to assess the performance.

The department attributed the improvement in rank to the setting up of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas, the transformation of high schools under the 5T initiative of the state government and digital learning initiatives during the COVID pandemic.

Besides Odisha, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Lakshadweep and Delhi were in Level III of the PGI.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik also tweeted to congratulate the S&ME department for the improvement in Odisha’s PGI rank. “With effective implementation of policies and initiatives, Odisha has jumped to Rank 10 in 2020-21 from Rank 14 in 2019-20,” the Twitter post said.