Autar Nehru, Delhi

The second edition of the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 whose release was “approved” by Union education minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on June 6, has generated a political controversy. Designed by the department of school education and literacy of the Union education ministry and first published last year, the purpose of the annual PGI is to “catalyse transformational change in the field of school education,” i.e, to improve the quality of K-12 education.

Launched in 2018, PGI ranks states for quality of school education provided based on data collected from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), NCERT’s National Achievement Survey (NAS), Mid-Day Meal website, Public Financial Management System (PFMS) and the information uploaded by the states and Union territories on shagunPortalEL. However, PGI doesn’t rank states, but grades them by levels I-VII. Best performing states with scores between 951 and 1,000 points are graded Level I, Level II is for scores from 901-950 and the lowest grades for states awarded 0-550 points.

In the latest PGI 2019-20, Punjab is awarded a total score of 929 (out of 1,000) with 126/180 in learning outcomes & quality; 79/80 for access, 150/150 for infrastructure & facilities, 228/230 under equity, and 346/360 for governance processes. It is followed by Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andaman and Nicobar. Delhi is in level III with a total score of 898.

Delhi’s demotion to level III and #6 national rank has made the state’s deputy chief and education minister, Manish Sisodia, see red. At a press conference convened on June 12, he described Punjab’s top score as prime minister Narendra Modi’s “gift” to Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh.

According to Sisodia, there’s a secret pact between Modi and Capt. Singh to help the latter win the Punjab legislative assembly elections scheduled for early 2022. “Modiji has stamped the work of Captain (Amarinder Singh) of the past five years as #1 in the country while ignoring the fact that thousands of government schools (in the state) have shut or have been handed over to the private sector and people are troubled by the working of government schools in the state,” said Sisodia.

The back story behind Sisodia’s ire is that since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) first won the Delhi state assembly election in 2015 and swept the 2020 assembly election again despite the BJP wave in General Election 2019, reform of the national capital’s 1,051 public schools has been a major plank of AAP’s election campaigns. In the party’s 2020 campaign and subsequently, AAP leaders have been show-casing Delhi’s government schools as being as good in terms of infrastructure, co-curricular and sports education, and student learning outcomes as top-ranked private schools. Moreover, for several years Delhi state’s AAP government has been allocating 25 percent of its annual budget to education which it claims is the highest of any state countrywide. In the circumstances, its #6 ranking in PGI 2019-20 and its score of 898 cf. Punjab’s 929 smells of manipulation.

The highest PGI grade and score awarded to Punjab and by implication to the state’s Congress government led by Capt. Amarinder Singh is very suspicious in the eyes of the AAP leadership, because AAP has begun a vigorous campaign for next year’s assembly election in Punjab and based on its track record in education reform in Delhi, has emerged as a significant force in Punjab politics.

Unsurprisingly, Punjab’s education minister Vijay Inder Singla believes the state’s top score and grade under PGI 2019-20 is justified. “Proof of our good work in improving government schools is that nearly 650,000 new students have enrolled since the Congress government was formed in Punjab in 2017. Of them, 550,000 have left private schools because our Punjab Smart Connect Scheme, which provided smartphones to 173,000 children during the pandemic, has been widely appreciated. It is pertinent to note that Punjab matches Kerala’s record of remaining at the top in education development rankings for many years,” says Singla.

Even as politicians trade charges and counter-charges about PGI 2019-20, academics in Delhi, Punjab and elsewhere are deriving quiet satisfaction that education — a non-issue in most election campaigns— is receiving greater attention in political slugfests.

Also Read: Pokhriyal approves PGI 2019-2020