Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs (PGI-S) and Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2025-26

About Performance Grading Index 2.0 for States/UTs (PGI-S)

• About: Performance Grading Index is to track the performance of school education systems across States and Union Territories.
  • The framework is designed to help identify strengths and gaps and monitor progress over time.
• Released by: It is released annually by the Department of School Education and Literacy.
• It is an assessment of States and UTs by placing them in grade bands rather than assigning ranks. 
• Weightage: The PGI- States/UTs structure comprises of total weightage of 1000 points.
• Indicators and categories: : It is built on 70 indicators across two categories — outcomes and governance, and management  and six domains: learning outcomes and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity, governance processes, and teacher education and training.
• It is completely aligned with Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +), National Achievement Survey (NAS), PM POSHAN portal, PRABAND portal and Vidyanjali Portal data, allowing data for 65 indicators to be auto-filled.
• Grades: In PGI 2.0 state/UT, the nomenclature for PGI scores is classified into various grades:
  • Utkarsh grade: This is the highest achievable grade for states and UTs scoring more than 90 per cent. Other grades are Uttam-1, Uttam-2, Uttam-3, Prachesta-1, Prachesta-2 and Prachesta-3.
  • The states and UTs have also figured in the Akanshi-1 category (21-30 pc), Akanshi-2 (11-20 pc) and Akanshi-3 (up to 10 pc).
• Performance of states and UTs:
  • Top performer: Chandigarh became the first State/ UT in the PGI 2.0 series to enter the Uttam range, scoring 766 out of 1,000 in 2025-26.
    • Delhi has been placed among the country’s better-performing States and Union Territories.
    • No State/UT reached the Utkarsh, Uttam-1, or Uttam-2 categories.
  • Second top: Punjab, Kerala, Delhi, and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu jointly secured the second position.
    • Remaining States/UTs were distributed across Prachesta-2, Prachesta-3, and Akanshi-1.
  • Punjab remained the national leader and the only State/UT in Uttam-3 in learning outcomes.
  • Meghalaya stayed last in Akanshi-2.
    

About Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2025-26

• The PGI-D is for assessing districts on a common parameter with attention shifting towards outcome measurement of educational policies.
• Weightage: The PGI-D framework comprises a total weightage of 600 points.
• Indicators and categories: It is built on 70 indicators which are grouped under 6 categories: Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Student Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning and Governance Process.  These categories are further divided into 11 domains.
• Data Sources: The data for PGI-D are drawn from several sources such as Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +), PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (PRS 2024) and the PRABANDH Portal.
• Performance of Districts:
  • A total of 462 districts have improved their score in outcomes, out of which 50 districts have made grade level improvement.
  • Among the districts, no district has attained highest grade of Utkarsh in 2025-26.
  • One district has attained Uttam-1 grade.
  • 19 districts reached the Uttam-2 grade in 2025–26 by achieving more than 70 pc of the total score.
    • The 19 top performing districts include four from Delhi, seven in Punjab, three in Kerala and two in Maharashtra. Chandigarh, Diu and Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh) are also on the list.
  • Number of districts in Uttam-3 grade has increased from 75 to 97.