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NEW DELHI/SHILLONG: Meghalaya continues to remain at the bottom of India’s school education rankings despite years of government promises, reform announcements and repeated claims that education remains a “top priority sector”.
The latest Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2.0 report for 2024–25 released by the Union Ministry of Education shows Meghalaya scored just 448 points out of 1,000, making it the lowest-ranked state in the country once again.
Meghalaya’s score also remained below other lower-ranked states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland and Bihar, further underlining the depth of the state’s education challenges.
Although the state improved slightly from its previous score of 417.9 recorded in the 2023–24 assessment, the improvement has done little to change Meghalaya’s national position.
More significantly, Meghalaya remains the only state in India placed in the “Akanshi-3” category — the lowest performance band under the Centre’s education grading system.
The ranking is not an isolated setback. Earlier PGI findings highlighting Meghalaya’s weak performance were already publicly discussed in 2025. Multiple media organisations had reported concerns surrounding poor learning outcomes, infrastructure gaps, low enrolment schools and rising dropout numbers.
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Yet one year later, the state continues struggling at the national bottom.
The PGI evaluates states on several key indicators including:
- Learning outcomes
- School infrastructure
- Governance
- Access to education
- Teacher trainin
- School management efficiency
The latest findings raise uncomfortable questions for policymakers.
How does a state that repeatedly speaks about education transformation continue ranking last nationally? Where are reforms translating into measurable results? And why do structural problems continue persisting despite years of schemes, announcements and rising expenditure?
The contrast with neighbouring Assam has made the situation harder to ignore.
According to the same report, Assam recorded one of the sharpest improvements in India, jumping more than 82 points to score 593.6.
Meghalaya, meanwhile, improved only marginally and still remained at the bottom nationally. Previous data linked to PGI assessments had already painted a worrying picture:
- Thousands of annual student dropouts
- Hundreds of schools with zero enrolment
- More than 2,000 institutions operating with single-digit student strength
- Serious rural infrastructure challenges
The issue goes beyond examination results.
While Meghalaya recently reported improved SSLC pass percentages and several schools continue producing outstanding performers, experts have repeatedly argued that isolated academic success cannot hide wider systemic weaknesses affecting large parts of the public education sector.
The PGI does not measure student intelligence. It measures the effectiveness of the education system itself.
And right now, the national data continues sending the same message year after year — Meghalaya’s school education system remains in deep structural trouble despite repeated political assurances of reform.
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