Goa among least improving states in school education, says Centre

PANAJI: A nationwide assessment of schools by the Union education ministry has said that Goa is among states and UTs to have shown the least improvement over the previous year, and that at least 19 states are ahead of it in the performance grading index (PGI) developed by the ministry.
Of a total of 1,000 points, Goa’s scores fell in the 751-800 bracket, along with Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Sikkim and Telangana.The states were assessed on 70 parameters for the quality of its school education across the government and aided sectors. Goa attained a ‘Grade II’ rank.

Goa was found among the lowest-ranked states and UTs when assessed in the domains of ‘learning outcomes and quality’ and ‘governance processes’, while it was in the top ten when it came to ‘infrastructure and facilities’ and ‘access’.
The education ministry’s assessment states that it is understandable that states and UTs, which already had high PGI scores, had little scope to outperform themselves in 2019-20.
However, the ministry expressed concerns over states like Goa, which fell in the middle grades, but could have done better over the previous year.
“One point of concern however remains that there are a group of States and UTs in the middle range (between 600 to 800) whose PGI score has improved less than 40 points in one year from 2018-19 to 2019-20,” the assessment states. Among these middle range states, Goa’s performance improved the least, gaining only one point over its score of 782 in 2018-19. In comparison, Telangana in the same bracket had gained 15 points.
To arrive at the PGI for 2019-20, the ministry has sourced data from various central databases on school education like the national achievement surveys, midday meal assessments, etc. Schools were judged on parameters like students’ performance, infrastructural facilities, and shift of governance processes from the manual to the digital mode, among others.
In the domain of ‘governance processes’, Goa was among 24 states and UTs which scored less than 288, and the ministry has said this is a major area where they must focus.
As an incentive for states and UTs to improve their performance, the ministry plans to link the PGI with aid in the future.