Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh retained its last year’s position in the govt school performance index, scoring 579.9 out of 1,000 in 2025-26 as against 569.1 scored last year.States with scores ranging from 521-580 achieved the Akanshi 1 grade. Chandigarh became the first State/UT in the PGI 2.0 series to enter the top (Uttam) range, scoring 766 out of 1,000 in 2025-26.A domain-wise understanding of the 2025-26 edition of Union education ministry’s latest Performance Grading Index 2.0 report released on Tuesday shows the marginal rise for UP is driven by infrastructure and facilities, and teacher training while the 240- point learning outcomes domain (the ultimate goal) remained unchanged because the index retained PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 scores for 2025-26.The Performance Grading Index 2.0 evaluates states and UTs by placing them in grade bands rather than assigning ranks. 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.UP climbed an average of 1.3 points in curtailing dropouts and ensuring universal access to education. Infrastructure remained an important driver for UP where it showed improvement by 3.6 points.Though it improved overall, the state slightly slipped on equity and governance processes.The PGI 2.0 band hierarchy, from highest to lowest, is Utkarsh, followed by Uttam (1-3), Prachesta (1-3), and Akanshi (1-3), one being the top.Thanking chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s vision and collective effort of teachers, children and officials, additional chief secretary, basic and secondary education, Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma said, “We need to further improve our grades. We will write to the districts sensitizing them on each of the six indicators.”He added that the department would also create awareness on the accuracy of data that is fed on the national portal that defines ranking and grades for various states.
