Ministry of Education releases ‘Performance Grade Index (PGI) 2.0’ for 2022-23 & 2023-24. The Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 is an evidence-based framework developed by the Ministry of Education, to assess the school education system across all States and UTs through a structured and data-driven approach.
PGI holistically assesses the performance of school education systems across States and UTs utilizing data from the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), National Achievement Survey (NAS), PM-POSHAN portal, PRABAND portal and Vidyanjali Portal.
PGI was originally launched in 2017 and was revamped as PGI 2.0 in 2021 to align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- About: Performance Grading Index is to track the performance of school education systems across States and Union Territories.
- The framework is designed to help identify strengths and gaps and monitor progress over time.
- Released by: PGI was launched in 2017 and later revamped as PGI 2.0 in 2021. It is released annually by the Department of School Education and Literacy.
- It is an assessment of States and UTs by placing them in grade bands rather than assigning ranks.
- Weightage: The PGI- States/UTs structure comprises of total weightage of 1000 points.
- Indicators and categories: : It is built on 73 indicators across two categories — outcomes and governance, and management and six domains: learning outcomes and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, governance processes, and teacher education and training.
- It is completely aligned with Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +), National Achievement Survey (NAS), PM POSHAN portal, PRABAND portal and Vidyanjali Portal data, allowing data for 65 indicators to be auto-filled.
- Grades: In PGI 2.0 state/UT, the nomenclature for PGI scores is classified into various grades:
- Utkarsh grade: This is the highest achievable grade for states and UTs scoring more than 90 per cent. Other grades are Uttam-1, Uttam-2, Uttam-3, Prachesta-1, Prachesta-2 and Prachesta-3.
- The states and UTs have also figured in the Akanshi-1 category (21-30 pc), Akanshi-2 (11-20 pc) and Akanshi-3 (up to 10 pc).
- 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%).
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.
- Decline in Dropout Rates: The dropout rate at the secondary level (Classes 9-12) saw a significant decline from 8.2% in 2024-25 to 7.0% in 2025-26.
- The dropout rate at the preparatory level (Classes 3-5) dropped from 2.3% to 1.8%.
- State-wise Disparity: Ladakh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka recorded the highest dropout rates at the secondary educational level.
- Enrolment and Retention: The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the secondary level increased from 68.5% to 71.7%.
- Student retention at the secondary level improved from 47.2% to 51.9%.
- Teacher Strength and Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR): For the first time, India’s school teacher count crossed the 1 crore mark (standing at 1.02 crore).
- The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) remained well within the National Education Policy, 2020 benchmark of 30:1, standing at 10:1 at the Foundational, 12:1 at the Preparatory, 17:1 at the Middle, and 21:1 at the Secondary level.
- Better Transition Rates: Transition rates reached 99.2% from foundational to preparatory, 93.8% from preparatory to middle and 88.3% from middle to secondary education.
- Infrastructure:
- Digital Infrastructure: Schools with computers increased to 69.9%, while those with internet connectivity rose to 67.4%.
- Basic School Infrastructure: 95% of schools have electricity, 99.5% drinking water, 98.5% girls’ toilets and 96.9% handwashing facilities.
- Inclusive Infrastructure: 90.5% of schools have libraries, while only 58.2% have ramps with handrails, indicating continued gaps in accessibility for children with disabilities.
- Gender Representation: Women constitute 54.9% of India’s teaching workforce, while girls account for 48.4% of total school enrolment.
- Developed by the Ministry of Education, UDISE+ is one of the largest Management Information Systems on school education globally.
- It serves as India's integrated national digital database for collecting and analysing school education statistics from pre-primary to higher secondary levels across both government and private schools.
- It provides robust, real-time data to support the planning, resource allocation, and monitoring of flagship programs like the NEP 2020 and Samagra Shiksha.
- The Secondary-Stage Drop-Off: Despite high retention rates at the foundational level (98.5%), retention drops drastically to 51.9% at the Secondary level.
- This "drop-off cliff" indicates that nearly half of the students leave the schooling system before completing higher secondary education.
- A student who cannot read a basic text by Grade 3 is statistically guaranteed to drop out by Grade 9. The UDISE+ data showing high primary retention coupled with a sharp secondary drop-off is a direct symptom of unaddressed "Learning Poverty."
- Pedagogical Challenges: A lack of foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) in early stages makes comprehending advanced secondary-level subjects difficult, leading to disinterest and attrition.
- Persistent One-Teacher Schools: Over 1 lakh schools across India still operate with only a single teacher.
- This places extreme teaching and administrative burdens on individuals and deteriorates the quality of classroom transactions.
- Lagging Inclusivity for CWSN: More than 40% of schools still lack adequate accessibility features for Children with Special Needs (CWSN), hindering equitable opportunities for disabled students.
- Quality vs. Access Gap: While UDISE+ shows high enrollment and infrastructure scaling, the lack of top grades in PGI 2.0 indicates a stark gap between structural access and actual learning outcomes.
- The grading framework clearly illustrates that high-quality education remains elusive.
- Severe Regional and Institutional Disparities: A 31.4% performance gap exists between Chandigarh (Uttam-3) and Meghalaya (Akanshi-2), highlighting significant interstate disparities. States such as Bihar, Jharkhand, and West Bengal continue to face weak institutional capacity, while fragmented governance, teacher absenteeism, inefficient fund utilisation, and poor implementation of School Management Committees (SMCs) hinder school education outcomes.
- Resource Constraints for Targeted Upgradation: Lagging "Akanshi" districts face severe capital and administrative constraints.
- They lack the decentralized funds required to implement complex mandates under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, such as continuous professional development for teachers and the establishment of smart classrooms.
Education is central to achieving inclusive growth, demographic dividend, and sustainable development. India has made remarkable progress in expanding access to school education through initiatives such as the Right to Education Act and Samagra Shiksha. However, ensuring meaningful learning outcomes remains a major challenge. Recognising this, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 advocates a shift from access-centric education to outcome-based learning. In this context, data-driven governance through UDISE+ and the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 seeks to improve accountability and educational quality across States and Union Territories.
Major Challenges in Improving Learning Outcomes in India's School Education System
I. Secondary-stage drop-off and learning poverty
Although retention at the foundational stage is around 98.5%, it falls sharply to 51.9% at the secondary level. This indicates that nearly half of the students leave school before completing higher secondary education. Poor foundational literacy and numeracy in the early years often translate into learning poverty, making students more likely to drop out in later grades.
II. Pedagogical and foundational learning challenges
Many children fail to acquire basic reading and numeracy skills during the foundational years. Weak FLN makes it difficult to understand higher-level concepts in mathematics, science, and social sciences, resulting in poor academic performance and reduced classroom engagement.
III. Persistent teacher shortages and one-teacher schools
More than one lakh schools continue to function with only one teacher. Such schools face heavy teaching and administrative burdens, limiting subject-specific instruction, individual attention, and effective classroom management.
IV. Inadequate inclusivity for Children with Special Needs (CWSN)
Over 40% of schools lack essential accessibility features for Children with Special Needs. The absence of ramps, accessible toilets, assistive devices, and trained teachers restricts equitable access to quality education.
V. Quality versus access gap
While UDISE+ reflects significant improvements in enrolment, infrastructure, and school access, PGI 2.0 shows that no State or Union Territory has reached the highest categories of Utkarsh, Uttam-1, or Uttam-2. This highlights that expanding access alone has not translated into high-quality learning outcomes.
VI. Regional and institutional disparities
PGI 2.0 reveals a performance gap of over 31% between Chandigarh, which entered the Uttam-3 category, and Meghalaya, placed in Akanshi-2. Several States continue to face challenges such as weak institutional capacity, teacher absenteeism, fragmented governance, poor implementation of School Management Committees, and inefficient utilisation of educational funds.
VII. Resource constraints in lagging regions
Many aspirational districts lack adequate financial and administrative capacity to implement reforms envisioned under NEP 2020, including teacher professional development, digital classrooms, and modern learning infrastructure.
Role of UDISE+ and PGI 2.0 in Improving Learning Outcomes
I. Evidence-based policymaking: UDISE+ provides comprehensive school-level information on enrolment, infrastructure, teachers, and student characteristics, enabling governments to identify educational gaps and formulate targeted interventions.
II. Outcome-oriented performance assessment: PGI 2.0 evaluates States and Union Territories across six domains covering learning outcomes, access, infrastructure, equity, governance processes, and teacher education. This shifts the focus from infrastructure creation to educational outcomes.
III. Strengthening accountability and competitive federalism: State-wise grading encourages healthy competition, transparency, and the adoption of best practices while helping policymakers benchmark progress against measurable indicators.
IV. Better resource allocation: Performance-based data enables governments to identify underperforming districts and channel financial and administrative resources where they are needed most.
Critical Examination
I. Data quality determines policy quality: The effectiveness of UDISE+ and PGI 2.0 depends upon timely, accurate, and reliable data. Inaccurate reporting may weaken planning and decision-making.
II. Quantitative indicators cannot fully capture learning quality: Indicators often fail to measure classroom interaction, critical thinking, creativity, socio-emotional learning, and student well-being, which are essential components of quality education.
III. Risk of ranking-oriented governance: States may focus on improving scores rather than undertaking deeper structural reforms that improve classroom teaching and student learning.
IV. Data must be linked with implementation: Data alone cannot improve education unless supported by teacher capacity building, curriculum reforms, continuous assessments through PARAKH, stronger school leadership, and community participation.
In conclusion, improving school education requires moving beyond enrolment and infrastructure towards meaningful learning outcomes. UDISE+ and PGI 2.0 provide a robust framework for evidence-based governance, transparency, and performance monitoring. However, lasting improvements will require addressing foundational learning deficits, reducing regional disparities, strengthening teacher capacity, ensuring inclusive education, and effectively implementing the vision of NEP 2020. Together, data-driven governance and systemic educational reforms can build a more equitable, resilient, and outcome-oriented school education system in India.
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