Subject: GS 2: Polity & Governance
Context: Recently, the Union Ministry of Education has released the Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs (PGI-S) and the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2025–26 to assess and benchmark the performance of school education systems across the country.
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About Performance Grading Index (PGI)
- It is a comprehensive assessment framework developed by the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, to evaluate the performance of States, Union Territories and districts in school education.
- Purpose: It measures educational performance through a grading-based system, enabling governments to monitor progress, identify gaps and undertake evidence-based policy interventions.
- Approach: Unlike a conventional ranking system, the PGI places multiple States/UTs or districts in the same performance grade, thereby encouraging continuous improvement, healthy competition and cooperative learning.
About Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs (PGI-S)
- Objective: The PGI-S evaluates the overall performance of States and Union Territories across key dimensions of school education and helps identify areas requiring policy and administrative reforms.
- Framework: The framework carries a total weightage of 1,000 points distributed across 70 performance indicators.
- These indicators are grouped under two broad categories:
- Outcome
- Governance & Management
- Domains: The indicators are organised under six domains:
- Learning Outcomes and Quality: Measures students’ academic performance, foundational learning and overall quality of education.
- Access: Assesses enrolment, retention, transition and participation in school education.
- Infrastructure & Facilities: Evaluates the availability of classrooms, drinking water, toilets, electricity and other essential school facilities.
- Equity: Measures inclusiveness and equitable access to education for disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
- Governance Processes: Assesses administrative efficiency, institutional management and implementation of educational policies.
- Teacher Education & Training: Evaluates teacher availability, professional development and capacity-building initiatives.
Data Sources: The assessment is based on data collected from:
- Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+)
- PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (PRS) 2024
- PM POSHAN Portal
- PRABAND Portal
- Vidyanjali Portal
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- Key Performance:
- Top Performer: Chandigarh emerged as the best-performing State/Union Territory in PGI 2.0 (2025–26) and became the only State/UT to secure the ‘Uttam-3’ grade.
- Second Best Performers: Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu were placed in the second-highest performance band among the States and Union Territories.
- Highest Grades Remain Unattained: No State or Union Territory achieved the ‘Utkarsh’, ‘Uttam-1’ or ‘Uttam-2’ grades, indicating considerable scope for improvement in school education outcomes.
- Lowest Performance Categories: No State or Union Territory was placed in the ‘Akanshi-1’ or ‘Akanshi-2’ categories.
- Grading Approach: The Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 evaluates States and Union Territories through a grading system instead of rankings, enabling multiple States/UTs to be placed within the same performance band and encouraging continuous improvement.
- Grading Structure: The PGI 2.0 grading framework comprises Utkarsh (above 90%), Uttam-1 (81–90%), Uttam-2 (71–80%), Uttam-3 (61–70%), Prachesta-1 (51–60%), Prachesta-2 (41–50%), Prachesta-3 (31–40%), Akanshi-1 (21–30%), Akanshi-2 (11–20%), and Akanshi-3 (up to 10%).
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About Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D)
- The PGI-D extends the Performance Grading Index to the district level to assess educational performance on a common set of parameters with greater emphasis on measuring the outcomes of education policies at the grassroots level.
- Framework: The framework carries a total weightage of 600 points distributed across 70 indicators.
- These indicators are grouped under six broad categories:
- Outcomes
- Effective Classroom Transaction
- Infrastructure, Facilities & Student Entitlements
- School Safety & Child Protection
Digital Learning- Governance Process
- Domains: The assessment covers eleven domains:
- Learning Outcomes and Quality (LOQ): Assesses students’ learning achievements and overall educational quality.
- Access Outcomes (AO): Measures enrolment, attendance, retention and transition rates.
- Teacher Availability and Professional Development Outcomes (TAPDO): Evaluates teacher adequacy, deployment and professional development.
- Learning Management (LM): Assesses classroom processes, curriculum implementation and academic management.
Learning Enrichment Activities (LEA): Measures co-curricular activities and initiatives that enhance learning experiences.- Infrastructure, Facilities & Student Entitlements (IF&SE): Evaluates school infrastructure, student facilities and entitlement delivery.
- School Safety & Child Protection (SS&CP): Assesses measures ensuring safe, inclusive and child-friendly school environments.
- Digital Learning (DL): Evaluates the availability and effective use of digital infrastructure and technology-enabled education.
- Funds Convergence & Utilisation (FCU): Measures the effective convergence, allocation and utilisation of financial resources.
- Attendance Monitoring Systems (AMS): Assesses systems for monitoring the attendance of students and teachers.
- School Leadership Development (SLD): Evaluates leadership capacity, institutional planning and school management practices.
- Data Sources: The assessment is based on information collected through:
- Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+)
- PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan (PRS) 2024
- PRABANDH Portal
- Key Performance:
- Highest Grade Performance: No district attained the highest ‘Utkarsh’ grade in 2025–26, indicating that the highest level of educational performance remains to be achieved.
- Uttam-1 Performance: One district secured the ‘Uttam-1’ grade during 2025–26.
- Growth in Uttam-2 Districts: The number of districts achieving the ‘Uttam-2’ grade increased from 16 in 2024–25 to 19 in 2025–26, reflecting gradual improvement in district-level educational performance.
- Improvement in Outcome Scores: A total of 462 districts improved their scores under the Outcome category, of which 50 districts progressed to a higher performance grade.
- Shift Towards Higher Grades: The number of districts in the ‘Uttam-3’ category increased from 75 to 97, while the number of districts in the ‘Prachesta-1’ category declined from 332 to 325, indicating an overall improvement in district performance.
- Top Performing Districts: The 19 districts placed in the ‘Uttam-2’ category include seven districts from Punjab, four from Delhi, three from Kerala, two from Maharashtra, along with Chandigarh, Diu, and Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh).
- Overall Assessment: The report highlights that the absence of districts in the ‘Utkarsh’ category and the presence of only one district in the ‘Uttam-1’ category indicate significant scope for improving learning outcomes and governance across districts.
Significance
- Outcome-Oriented Assessment: The framework shifts the focus from measuring educational inputs alone to evaluating learning outcomes, governance quality and policy implementation.
- Evidence-Based Policymaking: It enables governments to identify performance gaps and formulate targeted interventions based on reliable educational data.
- Strengthened Accountability: Periodic assessment promotes greater accountability among States, Union Territories and districts in improving school education outcomes.
- Promotion of Cooperative Federalism: The grading approach encourages healthy competition while facilitating the exchange of best practices among States, Union Territories and districts.
- Support for NEP 2020: The framework aligns with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by promoting quality education, equity, teacher development, digital learning and governance reforms.
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Conclusion
PGI-S and PGI-D provide a robust framework for assessing school education performance. By promoting data-driven governance, accountability and continuous improvement, they contribute significantly to achieving the objectives of NEP 2020 and improving educational outcomes across India.
9 Jul 2026
