Niti Aayog releases School Education Quality Index; Kerala tops, UP worst performer

Kerala has secured the top spot among 20 large states, followed by, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh performed the worst in 2016-17.
New Delhi: NITI Aayog on Monday launched the School Education Quality Index (SEQI) wherein states and union territories have been ranked as per performances in the school education.
Kerala has secured the top spot among 20 large states, followed by, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh performed the worst in 2016-17.
The report is titled Success of Our Schools-School Education Quality Index (SEQI) and it assesses states on the basis of learning, access and equity outcomes, infrastructure and facilities.
Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh have, however, showed the most improvement in their performance in 2016-17, in comparison to the base year of 2015-16.
“With this index, the government identifies the strength and weakness in school education and takes required correction measures like policy interventions to rectify them,” a press release said.
Tamil Nadu was the top performer in access and equity outcomes, while Karnataka led in learning outcomes. Haryana had the best infrastructure and facilities.
Among the UTs, Chandigarh has the highest overall performance score while Lakshadweep ranks last.
Meanwhile, among the smaller states, Manipur emerged as the best performer.
West Bengal has not been included in the rankings as according to reports, it refused to participate in the evaluation process.
The SEQI was developed through a collaborative process including key stakeholders the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), the World Bank and sector experts, consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education.