Shillong, July 8 (IANS) Meghalaya Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said on Wednesday that the state has registered a significant improvement in school education, moving up two grades in the Union government’s Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 for 2025-26.

The Minister added that the state’s overall PGI score increased from 448 in 2024-25 to 525.7 in 2025-26, enabling Meghalaya to move from the Akanshi-3 category, the lowest performance band, to Akanshi-1 in a single assessment cycle.

According to Rymbui, this marks the first time Meghalaya has moved out of the lowest grading category since the introduction of the Performance Grading Index framework by the Union government.

He said that the state’s progress has been consistent over the last four assessment cycles, with the overall score rising from 401.62 in 2022-23 to 417.90 in 2023-24, 448 in 2024-25 and 525.7 in 2025-26.

The cumulative improvement of more than 124 points reflects sustained efforts by the state government to strengthen the school education system, he added.

The Education Minister attributed the improved performance to a series of reforms undertaken by the state over the past few years.

These include the introduction of the Structured Pay Framework (SPF) for teachers, rationalisation of schools, implementation of the Chief Minister’s IMPACT programme, infrastructure development under the Samagra Shiksha scheme and the Asian Development Bank-supported education project.

Rymbui said the state government has also focused on strengthening teacher capacity through the Meghalaya Teacher Training Academy, improving digital governance in the education sector, and introducing targeted interventions aimed at enhancing foundational literacy, numeracy and overall school governance.

He added that the improvement in the PGI ranking demonstrates the positive impact of these reforms and reflects the collective efforts of teachers, education officials, school management committees and other stakeholders across the state.

Welcoming the achievement, the Minister said the state government considers it an important milestone rather than the final destination.

He asserted that the state would continue to focus on improving learning outcomes, strengthening governance, enhancing teacher capacity and ensuring that every child in Meghalaya has access to quality education.

–IANS

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