PGI Report: Odisha slips to 24th spot in terms of school education

At a time when the Odisha government is making all tall claims about developing infrastructure to ensure a better education system in schools across the State, the recently published Performance Grading Index (PGI) report of schools by the Ministry of Education has put Odisha in a tight spot.

Odisha, which ranked at the 10th position of the PGI report in the 2020-21 academic year, has now slipped by 14 positions and secured 24th spot this academic session raising questions about the education system in the state.

While Jagatsinghpur, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Ganjam, Puri, and Khordha scored ‘Ati-Uttam’ grade in the PGI, 24 districts' performance has been marked Uttam. However, the PGI score for Rayagada and Koraput was recorded lowest and their performance was marked Prachesta-1.

Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Kerala topped the index. During Covid, Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab were the best-performing states.

Meanwhile, the nosedive of Odisha in PGI has raised concerns among educationists. 

The Ministry of Education assesses the performance of the school education system at the state and Union Territory levels by creating an index for comprehensive analysis. 

The Performance Grading Index - States/UTs was first released for the year 2017-18 and so far, has been released up to the year 2020-21.

The PGI looks at the Indian education system as one of the largest in the world with about 14.9 lakh schools, 95 lakh teachers, and nearly 26.5 crore students from varied socioeconomic backgrounds.