PANJIM: Infrastructure facilities provided in Goan schools are considered as amongst the best in the country as the State ranks second in the category of facilities offered to students as per the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2017-18, released by Union Ministry for Human Resources Development (MHRD) on Wednesday. However, the State was ranked 21st in quality of education indicator.
Goa obtained Grade III with a total of 738 points, out of 1000, together for quality of education (21 rank), access to school (7 rank), infrastructure and facilities (2 rank), governance processes (26) and equity (13 rank).
Goa ranked second on the infrastructure and facility front with 138 points out of 150. Punjab tops the list chart having scored just one point more than Goa that is 139. The facilities basically include providing science lab, computer lab, mid-day meal facility, drinking water, uniforms, textbooks and other basic facilities.
In this category, Goa has put behind Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala amongst others. The State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) has been entrusted with the task of upgrading the school infrastructure across the State.
The State, with close to 90 per cent literacy rate, has also performed well as far as children’s access to school is concerned. Holding the 7th position, it has weighted 75 out of 80, scoring well on indicators like net enrollment ratio,
retention rate, and out of school children.
The quality of education which is calculated based on students performance in subjects like mathematics, social science, languages has gained Goa 132 points out of 180. Though the State ranks 21st, it has scored almost 73 per cent.
Governance processes is where the State is lacking as it managed to score a mere 45 per cent. The State with 26th ranking has scored 163 out of 360.
The students’ equity has helped the State to gain 13th position in the equity indicator with 209 out of 230 weighted points.
The Index also stated that the percentage of schools offering vocational courses in Class XI and XII is much higher in Goa than the national average.
