PGI Ranking: Did Kerala actually bag the first position for transformational change in education in the country?

On June 6, the MoE had released the PGI 2019-20 for States and Union Territories (UTs), to analyse the transformational change in school education
Representative Image (Pic: PTI)
Representative Image (Pic: PTI)

On Monday, a few Malayalam newspapers and news websites had carried a news item that said that the schools in Kerala rank the first in India, in terms of the Performance Grading Index 2019-20 published by the Ministry of Education. However, is it true? Not quite.

On June 6, the MoE had released the PGI 2019-20 for States and Union Territories (UTs), to analyse the transformational change in school education. Now in the list, five states and UTs held the highest I++ rank. These are Punjab, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While the first three scored 929, 912 and 906, the last two scored 901 each. This allots the first rank to Punjab, second to Chandigarh, third to Tamil Nadu, while Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar Islands share the fourth position. The index has been prepared with 70 parameters to “catalyse transformational change in the field of school education.”
 

Despite being a top scorer, Kerala is still a little behind number one in the country. However, what is noteworthy is that the state has tremendously improved its score, compared to the report released in 2020. Last year, the state's score was between 851 and 900, making it one of the top three states/UTs. Gujarat and Chandigarh preceded Kerala at that time. The case was exactly the same in 2017-18 too.

Now, what could have led to the news items published in Malayalam media? One cannot call them completely wrong, because Kerala certainly got the highest grade, despite not bagging the most points. Also, a press note from the state's Ministry of General Education says that Kerala is in the 'top line' when it comes to PGI ranking. The carefully worded note doesn't mention Kerala's position, but mentions 'top line' three times. There are chances that this could have caused the confusion.

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