State in lower-mid tier in school education rankings
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 20 2025: Manipur has retained its position in the lower-mid tier of India's school education performance, as per the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for 2023-24, despite a modest improvement in its overall score from 489.3 to 497.3 out of 1000 .

The state continues to be graded under Akan-shi-2, indicating persistent challenges in infrastructure, governance, and teacher development, even as it shows strength in learning outcomes and equity.

The PGI 2.0, released by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday, evaluates states and Union Territories based on 73 indicators drawn from six domains.

These include Learning Outcomes, Access, Infrastructure & Facilities, Equity, Governance Processes, and Teacher Education and Training.

Manipur's overall score places it ahead of several north-eastern states such as Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya, but continues to trail behind Assam and Sikkim, the latter leading the region with a score of 531.9 and an Akanshi-1 grade.

Manipur showed notable improvement in Learning Outcomes, scoring 71.0 out of 240, earning it the Akanshi-1 grade in this domain.

This is significantly higher than Assam (62.6) and Sikkim (48.2), and reflects strong performance in foundational learning.

The state also performed well in the Equity domain with a score of 219.3 out of 260, placing it in the Utkarsh grade, closely matching Assam and Sikkim.

These gains suggest effective efforts in reducing disparities in access and educational outcomes across gender, caste, and regional lines.

In terms of Access to education, Manipur secured 50.1 out of 80 and was graded "Uttam", indicating commendable student retention and transition rates at various school levels.

However, the state's strengths in access and learning are offset by significant weaknesses in other core areas.

Governance Processes continue to be a major area of concern, with the state scoring only 32.8 out of 130, despite being graded Akanshi-1 due to the lower scoring threshold.

This low score reflects systemic issues such as delays in fund flows, lack of digital attendance tracking, and numerous unfilled leadership posts in schools.

Manipur's infrastructure performance is also underwhelming, with a score of 65.9 out of 190, placing it in the Prachesta-3 grade.

The state continues to face issues such as the absence of ICT labs, poor sanitation facilities, irregular distribution of textbooks, and unreliable electricity in schools.

In the domain of Teacher Education and Training, Manipur scored 58.2 out of 100, placing it in Prachesta-1 grade.

While not the weakest performer in this domain, the score suggests there is considerable scope for enhancing teacher qualifications and training.

Particular attention is needed for equipping teachers to work with children with special needs and to implement the pedagogical principles outlined in the National Education Policy.

Policy recommendations to address Manipur's weaknesses include reinforcing governance mechanisms by digitising school records, ensuring timely appointments of school leadership, and streamlining fund distribution from state to school levels.

Investment in school infrastructure, especially ICT-enabled classrooms, clean sanitation, libraries, and consistent delivery of PM POSH-AN and textbooks, is also urgently needed.

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