Top ranking in education index will strengthen efforts to mould knowledge society: Kerala CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said the state's top position in the latest Performance Grading Index was a recognition of the Left government's efforts to raise the standards of the general education system here. Vijayan said this recognition will strengthen the efforts to mould a knowledge society in the state.

"Kerala stands first with 928 points in the Performance Grading Index prepared by the Union Ministry of Education that assesses school education in various states and Union Territories... The growth in the Kerala's education sector has been receiving many such accolades. This will strengthen our efforts to mould a knowledge society in the state equipped with knowledge and skills," Vijayan said in a Facebook post.

The Performance Grading Index report, a unique index for evidence-based comprehensive analysis of the school education at the district level, has been published based on the performance in 2020-21. "This is also a recognition of the general education campaign initiated by the Left government to raise the standards of our public education sector," he said.

Kerala scored high points in educational opportunity, facility and quality indices, Vijayan said, adding that the state has progressed significantly in the grading compared to previous years. "When the Performance Grading Index was published for the first time in 2017-18, Kerala scored 826 points.

Also Read| Atmanand Schools: Teachers in Chhattisgarh’s top government schools feel they got a raw deal

In subsequent years, the grade was improved to to 862 and 901 points respectively. We were able to make huge strides across all the benchmarks of the index," he said. Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab have topped the 2020-21 Performing Grading Index that assesses school education at the district level, the recently released report of Ministry of Education has said. Six states and one Union Territory have attained the best rating of Level 2 (L2) in the ranking.

No state, however, has been able to attain the highest level of L1 so far. The seven states and UTs that received L2 grade are Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.