New Delhi, June 8: The Northeastern states including Meghalaya, once boasting of high literacy rate, are now among the worst performers in school education, a report prepared by the Centre, says.
Five NE states – Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh – are among the worst performers as per the latest Performance Grading Index.
Minister for Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank released the report recently.
Meghalaya which is vying to become an educational hub of the country has ranked lowest after Bihar as per the index. The state’s performance was the second worst in the country mostly because of its lack of infrastructure and other facilities, the report said.
“Two states – Bihar and Meghalaya – recorded lowest scores in this domain (infrastructure and facilities), which is a cause for concern,” the report said. Proper school building with adequate facilities is a must to improve the overall quality of school education, it went on to add.
The report also lamented that the hill state failed even in providing textbooks and uniforms which are critical for better education.
The index grades states/UTs on a set of 70 parameters to assess and catalyze transformational change in the field of education.
The score is derived using databases on 70 parameters such as access, equity, governance processes, infrastructure, and facilities, and learning outcomes that are mostly self-reported by the states but vetted by the Centre, with National Achievement Survey data also being incorporated.
Tripura was the best performing NE state as per the index and is placed at the 20th spot with 801 points followed by Sikkim (772 points), Manipur ( 767 points), Assam (738 points), Mizoram ( 723 points), Arunachal Pradesh ( 698 points) and Nagaland ( 667 points). Meghalaya is placed at the bottom of the chart with 649 points.
Punjab topped the chart with 929 points, followed by Chandigarh with 912 points and Tamil Nadu with 906 points.
