Odisha’s Poor PGI Score: BJP Says Stark Reality As BJD Calls It Politics Not Merit [Watch]

Bhubaneswar: The Performance Grading Index (PGI) of 2020-21, which pointed out the deteriorating standards of Odisha’s schools, has triggered a war of words between the ruling BJD and BJP.

Having revamped 8,000 schools in the last three years under its 5T school transformation programme, the BJD has accused the Union Education Ministry, which is headed by Dharmendra Pradhan, of undermining Odisha’s education progress.

In a press statement, BJD leader Sasmit Patra said that it was shocking to see the fall in the ranking of Odisha, where Mo School Abhiyan launched by the government is being appreciated by people across the state. “The poor score sourced from the Vidyanjali portal has had a detrimental impact on Odisha’s PGI index, significantly compromising the state’s educational advancements. It overlooked the state’s efforts in carrying out one of the largest alumni connect programmes in the world,” he said.

Patra added that Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya initiative has also emerged as a game-changing programme in the school and mass education sector of Odisha.

“We don’t recognise the rating given by the Ministry of Education as it has more to do with politics than merit. The Ministry should reassess its approach and conduct a fair evaluation of the initiatives implemented by the Odisha government.” he said while also pointing out the fall in the ranks of Utkal University, Sambalpur University and Berhampur University in the national rankings.

The School and Mass Education department, too, has said that evaluation made by the ministry does not truly reflect the impact of initiatives like Mo School Abhiyan, 5T High School Transformation Programme and Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas on school education.

Calling Sasmit’s statement as unfortunate, BJP spokesperson Tejeswar Parida said that the 5T High School Transformation Programme is nothing but a sham. “The government is busy painting the school buildings while they lack facilities, including playground, and adequate teachers. Schools are being closed, forcing children to drop out. Anti-socials are found boozing on school premises without a proper boundary wall. Further, the state is yet to implement the National Education Policy.”

Parida said that the report points out the gaps in the education system in states as an indicator on areas which need improvement. “I fail to understand why the BJD so rattled by the ranking. Instead of blaming the Ministry, we need to accept that Odisha has scored low grades and work towards improving its position in those domains. The state needs to pay attention to primary schools and Anganwadis,” he said.

He further said that the school performance index is prepared taking into account data shared by the state government. “Is the Centre responsible for the falling rankings of universities in the state, where classes are being conducted with guest faculty amid 50% vacancies,” he added.

Odisha, which was ranked 10th in 2020-21, has slipped to the 24th spot in 2021-22 ranking, with a score of 517.1 out of 1000 points, in the latest performance grading index (PGI 2.0) report released by the Union ministry of education on Friday. The state was placed under Akanshi-2 grade of the PGI 2.0 evaluation with 11 other states/UTs. The Akanshi-2 grade (461-520 points) is above the lowest grade Akanshi-3 grade (401-460 points).

Interestingly, Odisha attained Akanshi-1 grade in Learning Outcomes and Quality, 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.

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

Politically, education has emerged as a major plank with the BJD government trying hard to take maximum mileage out of its initiatives like Smart Classrooms and Mo School Abhijan under its 5T programme while the BJP would want to push its agenda as the saffron party’s poster boy for Odisha, Dharmendra Pradhan is the Union Education Minister.