The Ministry of Education, Government of India, has released its latest Performance Grading Index (PGI 2.0) State and District Reports, highlighting widening disparities in school education performance across the country. One of the report’s most significant findings is that no State or Union Territory managed to enter the top four grading categories, ranging from Daksh to Uttam-3. The absence of any state in these top tiers reflects continuing national gaps in learning outcomes and educational governance.
The PGI framework evaluates states and Union Territories out of 1,000 points across six major domains, including learning outcomes, access, infrastructure, equity, governance, and teacher education.
Chandigarh emerged as the top-performing entity in the country with 703 points, securing a Prachesta-1 grade. The Union Territory performed strongly in digital learning infrastructure, teacher training, and urban school facilities.
Punjab followed with 631.1 points, while Delhi scored 623.7 points, both placing in the Prachesta-3 category. Kerala, Gujarat, and Odisha also featured among the higher-performing states.
Odisha stood out nationally in the Access category due to high student enrollment and retention levels. Delhi and Chandigarh dominated the Infrastructure and Facilities domain with near-universal electricity access, smart classrooms, and functional laboratory systems.
At the lower end of the national rankings, Meghalaya recorded the weakest performance in the country with 417.9 points out of 1,000. The state was placed in the Akanshi-3 category, the tenth and lowest possible grade bracket. Although the score marked a marginal improvement from the previous 401.6 points, the state remained at the bottom of the national chart.
Other states placed in the slightly higher Akanshi-2 tier, which covers scores between 461 and 520 points, include Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Telangana, and Bihar.
Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma addressed the concerns surrounding Meghalaya’s PGI ranking, describing education as a highly complex and sensitive sector shaped by multiple interconnected factors.
He pointed to Meghalaya’s fragmented school structure as a major challenge. In many areas, up to four separate schools operate within the same building. Since each institution has its own Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) number and is independently assessed by the Government of India, the combined assessment significantly affects the state’s average performance across multiple indicators.
The Chief Minister said the government has already initiated targeted policy interventions to improve the education system and directly strengthen Meghalaya’s PGI performance.
These measures include reforms in the pay structures of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) teachers and other categories of educators, alongside broader administrative changes.
According to Sangma, some interventions are already showing visible progress. He stated that pass percentages have improved and school dropout rates have fallen significantly to six percent, placing Meghalaya below the national average.
Explaining the historical dropout crisis, the Chief Minister said that in earlier years nearly half of the students failed the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations. As a result, many students were unable to progress to higher secondary education, negatively impacting the state’s PGI score, which allocates marks for educational progression at every stage.
Sangma stressed that reforms in the education sector require time before measurable outcomes become visible. However, he expressed confidence that the groundwork laid over the last three to four years would gradually improve educational quality and state rankings.
He added that the government expects clearer improvements in the upcoming 2025–2026 PGI assessment, likely to be released around June or July.
Advisor and former MLA HM Shangpliang also described Meghalaya’s low PGI score as a reflection of structural and administrative shortcomings rather than any lack of talent among students.
He noted that the PGI heavily emphasizes learning outcomes in reading, mathematics, and science — areas where Meghalaya has consistently struggled in foundational literacy and numeracy assessments as well as board examinations.
According to Shangpliang, these problems are particularly severe in rural regions, where schools face acute shortages of subject teachers and weak academic monitoring systems.
He also highlighted major infrastructural deficiencies affecting the state’s performance. Many schools continue to lack science laboratories, libraries, internet connectivity, and digital learning access.
In remote areas, classrooms remain inadequate, functional toilets are limited, and poor transport connectivity continues to disrupt access to education.
Despite these challenges, Shangpliang acknowledged that the government under Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has been making sustained efforts to bridge the gaps. However, he stressed that government intervention alone would not be enough without active support from society, families, and communities.
A major consequence of these overlapping problems is Meghalaya’s high dropout rate, particularly after upper primary and secondary school levels.
In many remote tribal and economically weaker areas, children are often pushed into menial work to support family livelihoods instead of continuing their education.
Teacher-related issues further worsen the situation. Rural schools continue to face uneven teacher deployment, absenteeism, and allegations of proxy teaching.
To address these issues, the state government has initiated a rationalization process aimed at reducing under-enrolled schools and creating greater uniformity across the education system.
Under the process, non-functional schools, institutions with zero enrollment, or schools with more teachers than students are being merged with nearby cluster schools that have stronger infrastructure and better facilities.
Teachers from low-enrollment schools are being redeployed to areas where their services are more effectively required.
Governance and monitoring gaps also continue to affect Meghalaya’s ranking. The PGI evaluates school inspections, policy implementation, and data management — all areas where the state faces challenges due to difficult terrain and poor connectivity.
During the monsoon season, poor road conditions frequently prevent both students and teachers from reaching schools, especially in remote villages.
Shangpliang outlined a broad roadmap for improving Meghalaya’s future performance. A key priority is strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy among students from Classes I to V.
The proposed strategy includes daily reading assessments, remedial support for weaker students, and mother tongue-based early learning systems gradually transitioning into English instruction.
Improving teacher quality and accountability forms another major pillar of reform.
The government also plans urgent infrastructure upgrades, including functional toilets, drinking water facilities, electricity, internet connectivity, smart classrooms, libraries, and science laboratories.
To reduce dropout rates linked to poverty and distance, Shangpliang advocated for more residential schools and hostels for rural students.
Additional proposals include transport support, scholarships for economically weaker students, vocational education at the secondary level, and stronger career counseling and mentorship programs.
Technology is expected to play a major role in the state’s recovery strategy. The government plans to introduce hybrid learning systems using recorded lessons in Khasi, Garo, Jaintia, and English.
Specialized teacher-support applications are also expected to be introduced to improve classroom instruction.
Governance reforms will include regular learning outcome surveys, stronger district-level educational oversight, and real-time school data management systems.
Shangpliang stressed that long-term success would require collective participation from the government, churches, village education committees, parents, and non-governmental organizations.
He urged churches to actively support anti-dropout campaigns, encouraged parents to closely monitor attendance, and called upon NGOs to assist with remedial education efforts.
Expressing confidence in the collective effort under the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, Shangpliang said Meghalaya has the potential to significantly improve both its education system and national standing.
The broader national report reinforces many of the concerns seen in Meghalaya.
While physical school infrastructure has improved across India, student learning outcomes remain critically weak nationwide. No state achieved top grades in the learning outcomes category.
India has achieved near-universal enrollment at the primary level. However, dropout rates continue to rise sharply at higher levels.
The national upper primary dropout rate stands at 5.2 percent, while the secondary-level dropout rate for Classes IX and X rises sharply to 14.1 percent.
Rural poverty and early entry into the workforce remain major contributing factors.
The report also highlights India’s continuing digital divide. While over 91.8 percent of schools now have electricity, only 38.5 percent possess computing devices, and just 22.3 percent have internet access for teaching purposes.
At the district level, however, the report offers some encouraging signs.
The district PGI assessment, which evaluates local jurisdictions out of 600 points, showed that 653 districts improved their overall scores compared to the previous cycle.
Additionally, 251 districts achieved a complete vertical grade promotion.
A total of 16 districts entered the Uttam-2 category by scoring above 70 percent, a major improvement from earlier years when only one district occupied that category.
However, similar to the state rankings, no district in India managed to enter the highest Utkarsh category, indicating that sustained reforms and long-term administrative intervention remain essential across the country’s education system.
