State among top performing states in Akanshi-I from Akanshi-III
Shillong, July 8: In an encouraging development for education sector in Meghalaya, the state has made the biggest leap in Performance Grading Index (PGI), jumping two grades at one go.
Informing this on Wednesday, Education Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said Meghalaya moved directly from Akanshi III to Akanshi I in the 2025-26 rankings released by the Ministry of Education.
Terming it a landmark, Rymbui said no state had ever jumped two grades in a single year since the PGI was introduced.
“I am very glad to inform you that in the latest PGI ranking, education in Meghalaya has moved from Akanshi III to Akanshi I,” Rymbui said.
He recalled that in 2024-2025, Meghalaya was the only state in Akanshi III and had faced criticism for years for being at the bottom of the national rankings.
“Since 2018, and as the Chief Minister has repeatedly stated, education has been our top priority. We have been working consistently to achieve quality education in Meghalaya,” he said.
“While we saw improvement in our scores in the last few years, it was not reflected in the ranking earlier due to several factors.”
Sharing the data, Rymbui said the state’s PGI score had risen steadily from 401.62 in 2022-23, to 417.90 in 2023-24, to 448 in 2024-25, and now to 525.71 in 2025-26.
“Meghalaya is the fastest-improving state in the country under the PGI framework, with an overall increase of 124.09 points in the last four years, a growth of 31 percent,” he said.
With this, Meghalaya now joins 13 other states in Akanshi I, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Tripura, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister attributed the progress to collective efforts under the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
“This result reflects the combined work of the Chief Minister, officers of the Education Department at the secretariat, directorate, district and sub-divisional levels, DSEOs, SDSEOs, BRCs, BRPs, teachers, school managing committees, and parents. It is the collective responsibility of everyone that has led to this achievement,” he said.
Rymbui, however, stressed that the work is far from over.
“Have we done it all? No. This is a work in progress. Education is dynamic and keeps evolving, so I urge all stakeholders to continue working together. We will keep progressing,” he said.
He outlined several key interventions undertaken since 2018.
On governance and infrastructure, he said the government had increased the education budget from Rs 650 crore to Rs 840 crore and is working toward an estimated Rs 2000 crore needed to upgrade school facilities. Infrastructure development is being carried out in phases, with additional support from SSA, the Asian Development Bank, and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The government has also been providing solar power, toilets, and other amenities to schools.
On July 2, the Chief Minister launched ‘She Thrive’ to support girl students.
On teachers, Rymbui said the government had made requisite qualifications mandatory since 2018 and established the Meghalaya Teachers Training Academy for continuous training and retraining.
A structured pay framework has also been introduced to ensure job security and enable teachers to perform better.
Addressing equity and access, he said the number of schools had been rationalised from 14,000 to 12,000 through mergers, without compromising accessibility.
He added that issues such as zero enrolment and schools with too few teachers were being addressed.
On learning outcomes, Rymbui noted that the secondary pass percentage had improved to over 90 percent following the launch of CM IMPACT, compared to 54-55 percent earlier.
The government has also introduced supplementary examinations and allowed students who dropped out in the last five years to reappear.
All government secondary schools have been upgraded to higher secondary level, and new RMSA secondary and higher secondary schools have been set up where eligible.
The Minister flagged Science and Mathematics as areas needing focused attention, particularly in East Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, and other districts.
“Unless students enjoy Maths and Science, they will not be able to grasp the subjects properly. We are working on new approaches to address this fear,” he said.
He also highlighted the state’s Community Skill Learning programme, approved by the Cabinet on January 16, 2025, which has received national recognition.
In a statement, the education department said the government attributed the gains to sustained reforms over the past eight years, with focused interventions in the last three years.
Following the last PGI report, the Education department said it undertook an indicator-wise review, district-level analysis, regular monitoring meetings and targeted action plans to address weak areas, which strengthened compliance and reporting.
The department said the achievement was encouraging but “not the destination.”
