CHENNAI: TN is one of the top five performers in the Union education ministry’s Performance Grading Index (PGI) for 2019-20, but its score in one critical category — digital learning — is not at all impressive.
TN excels in key parameters of education such as access, equity, infrastructure, and governance. In digital learning, however, most districts couldn’t even score 50%, though schools across India performed poorly in this category.
In digital learning, TN districts scored the lowest compared with their scores in other parameters. As per the PGI report, districts like Ariyalur and Tiruppur scored the lowest 5 out of 50. The highest scorer in the category is Chennai with 24 marks. Kanniyakumari and Villupuram scored 21 each and Kancheepuram, Coimbatore, and The Nilgiris 19 each.
Several academicians agreed that despite being one of the forerunners in education, TN’s infrastructure to ensuring digital learning for students was inadequate. “If Chennai isn’t able to score even 50% in digital learning, it speaks volumes about the condition of schools in rural areas.
There are schools with no computer. There is shortage, too, of teachers trained in digital teaching methods,” said K Shankaramani, retired headmaster of a school in Coimbatore. District-wise performance of digital learning was based on factors like number of schools with computers, internet connection, student-to-computer ratio, percentage of teachers trained to use and teach with computer.
“There is an urgent need to improve digital learning infrastructure in backward areas. Though it’s one of the top performers, TN needs to do a lot of work in digital learning,” said Mahima Vijayam, teacher of a government school in Chennai.
Where TN stands
The PGI report 2019-20, which was released in 2021, showed that TN scored 906 out of 1,000 points, a significant improvement from the 793 points a year before. This grading system is expected to help the State school education department understand and identify shortcomings at district-level