PIB TrackerEducation Ministry releases Performance Grading Index 2.0, ranking states and districts on schooling
The Ministry of Education released PGI 2.0 for 2025-26 — a 1,000-point index grading states/UTs and a 600-point district index (PGI-D) across learning, access, infrastructure, equity and governance — to benchmark school-education performance across India's vast system.
What happened
- The Union Ministry of Education released the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for states/UTs (PGI-S) and districts (PGI-D) for 2025-26.
- PGI-S is a 1,000-point index across 70 indicators, six domains and two categories — Outcomes and Governance & Management.
- It grades states/UTs into performance bands rather than ranking them one-by-one — a more 'balanced and constructive' framework.
- The PGI-D extends this to districts: a 600-point framework across 70 indicators, six categories and 11 domains (incl. learning outcomes, school safety, digital learning).
- Both draw on UDISE+, PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 and portals like PM POSHAN, PRABAND and Vidyanjali.
For Prelims
- PGI: The Performance Grading Index — a school-education benchmarking tool by the Department of School Education & Literacy that places states/UTs in grades/bands, not strict ranks.
- UDISE+: The Unified District Information System for Education Plus — the national school-data management system (enrolment, teachers, infrastructure).
- PARAKH: The national assessment body/standard-setting unit under NCERT (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development); ran the Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 learning survey (successor to NAS).
- NEP 2020 link: PGI operationalises the learning-outcomes and equity focus of the National Education Policy; education is on the Concurrent List.
- PM POSHAN: The mid-day-meal scheme (formerly the National Programme of Mid-Day Meal), used here as a data source for school entitlements.
- Vidyanjali: A school-volunteering programme connecting communities/CSR with government schools.
For UPSC: Use PGI 2.0 as a governance-and-federalism case study: an outcome-oriented, data-driven benchmarking tool (grades not ranks) that nudges cooperative and competitive federalism in a Concurrent-List subject. Anchor NEP 2020's learning-outcome focus, UDISE+/PARAKH data infrastructure, and the equity and quality gaps in Indian schooling.
What it is NOT: This is a benchmarking report (grading performance), not a ranking league table or a new scheme; states are placed in bands. It measures the school system's inputs and outcomes, not higher education, and depends on the quality of the underlying UDISE+/PARAKH data.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.13 · GS2.15 · Linkage L2
Anchor
Data-driven, outcome-oriented governance of schooling — benchmarking that drives cooperative and competitive federalism in education.
Substantiation (data)
PGI 2.0 (2025-26): PGI-S (1,000 points, 70 indicators, six domains) grading states/UTs into bands; PGI-D (600 points, 11 domains) for districts; built on UDISE+ and PARAKH RS 2024.
Exemplification
Domains from learning outcomes and equity to school safety and digital learning; grading-into-bands to encourage improvement rather than shaming.
Problematisation
Data-quality and self-reporting concerns, the gap between metrics and real learning, and persistent equity and infrastructure disparities across states.
Way-forward
Strengthen assessment integrity, target weak domains and districts, and align funding and reform with PGI-identified gaps under NEP 2020.
Position
Government stance: transparent, outcome-focused benchmarking to lift school-education quality and equity toward NEP 2020 goals.
Deploys into: Issues relating to development and management of the education sector (GS2.13) · governance, transparency and e-governance / benchmarking (GS2.15) · NEP 2020, UDISE+/PARAKH data infrastructure, cooperative and competitive federalism in a Concurrent-List subject.
Ministry of Education · 2026-07-07 · PRID 2282148 · PIB source ↗