SHILLONG, June 27: The Meghalaya government has initiated several measures to improve its educational ranking after faring “worst” in the Performing Grading Index (PGI).
Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui on Saturday said that he does not look at the PGI ranking as a score, but as a benchmark to improve the education system.
Admitting that there are some issues, he blamed under-reporting of issues as one of the factors for Meghalaya’s poor ranking.
“There are so many things that are not reported, and the score of Meghalaya is low,” he said, adding that the government has prepared an action plan to improve the scenario.
According to him, several schools have toilets, but that data is not updated. In this regard, all officers concerned have been directed to ensure that schools update their respective data.
“The true picture has to be reflected in the data,” Rymbui said, adding that the PGI report talks about no network in many schools, whereas 90% of the areas in the state have mobile network and connectivity.
Recalling that an education conclave was held recently and ways to improve the PGI ranking were discussed in detail, the Education Minister said many facilities that are available in schools have not made it to the PGI report.
He said more than 800 schools are being installed with solar lights, and private schools have also been advised to meet the criteria and fill in the data.
The state government is also launching programmes to ensure that students enjoy learning science and mathematics. Students in certain pockets of the state are weak in these two subjects.
